Ex  Libris 

c.  K.  OGD"E\T 


V  '  r 


•/.      /[.h":?' 
I 


MAN   AND    WOMAN. 

EQUAL  BUT  UNLIKE. 


BY 

JAMES   REED. 


"  Female  and  male  God  made  the  Man ; 
His  Image  is  the  whole,  not  half." 

C.  PATKOEE. 


BOSTON: 

H.   H.   &   T.   W.    CARTER, 

No.  13  BEACON  STREET. 

1870. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1869,  by 

NICHOLS  AHD  NOTES, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


RIVERSmE,   CAMBRIDGE 
STEREOTYPED    AND    PRINTED 
H.   O.    HOUCHTON    AND   COMPANY. 


TO  THE 

BOSTON  SOCIETY  OF  THE  NEW  JERUSALEM, 

FOB  WHOH 

THESE  SERMONS  WERE  FIRST  WRITTEN, 
AND  AT  WHOSE  REQUEST  THEY 

ARE  NOW  PUBLISHED, 

THIS  VOLUME   CONTAINING  THEM  IS   AFFECTION- 
ATELY  INSCRIBED. 


1C77170 


CONTENTS. 


I.  THE  DIVINE  LIKENESS. 

II.  THE  MARRIAGE  COVENANT. 

III.  THE  RESPECTIVE  DUTIES   OF  MEN  AND   WOMEN. 

IV.  HEAVENLY  MARRIAGE. 
V.  A   LIFE  OF  USEFULNESS. 


PREFACE. 

fPHIS  little  volume  is  published  in  the  sincere  hope 
that  it  may  not  be  without  its  use  in  helping  to 
solve  one  of  the  vexed  problems  of  the  present  day.  It 
lays  no  claim  to  originality.  It  is  simply  an  attempt  to 
give  utterance  to  thoughts  expressed  by  Swedenborg 
nearly  a  hundred  years  ago.  With  respect  to  this  re- 
markable man,  the  world  is  slowly  beginning  to  discover 
that  he  was  a  spiritual  forerunner  of  the  age  in  which 
we  live.  He  anticipated,  and  removed  in  advance,  the 
obstacles  which  science  has  placed  in  the  pathway  of 
religion.  The  most  reverent  believer  in  Divine  Revela- 
tion, he  is  yet  the  deadliest  foe  of  blind  and  unreasoning 
faith.  Those  who  are  familiar  with  his  writings  can  see 
clearly  that  the  whole  course  of  modern  religious  thought 
runs  in  the  direction  in  which  he  points.  Not  the  least 
of  his  contributions  to  the  stock  of  human  ideas  is  what 
he  has  written  on  the  distinctions  and  mutual  relations 
of  the  sexes. 

This  book  endeavors  to  set  forth,  in  few  words,  the 


viii  PREFACE. 

general  principles  of  his  doctrine  on  that  subject.  The 
five  sermons  of  which  it  consists  are  printed  almost  ex- 
actly as  they  were  delivered  in  the  regular  course  of 
pastoral  instruction.  If  they  had  been  originally  de- 
signed for  publication,  they  might  have  been  somewhat 
different  in  form,  though  hardly  in  substance.  Especially 
might  they  have  been  less  summary  in  their  treatment 
of  certain  doctrines  incidentally  mentioned,  which  were 
more  familiar  to  those  who  heard  the  discourses  than 
they  can  be  to  the  general  public.  But  the  author  has 
had  neither  time  nor  inclination  to  alter  them  ;  and,  such 
as  they  are,  he  sends  them  forth,  to  do  whatever  work 
Divine  Providence  may  have  in  store  for  them. 

BOSTON,  Nov.  8, 1869. 


I. 

THE  DIVINE  LIKENESS. 

"  In  the  day  that  God  created  man,  in  the  likeness  of  God  made  He 
him:  male  and  female  created  He  them ;  and  called  their  name  Adam 
(or  man)  in  the  day  when  they  were  created."  — GENESIS  v.  1,  2. 

/^iNE  of  the  grandest  truths  of  religion  is  that  which 
^  declares  that  man  is  made  in  the  image,  after  the 
likeness,  of  God.  However  imperfectly  it  may  be  un- 
derstood, it  must  be  regarded  as  presenting  an  exalted 
and  inspiring  view  of  human  capacity  and  destiny.  Even 
if  we  think  of  nothing  more  than  outward  bodily  resem- 
blance, —  if  we  remember  only  that  whenever  the  Lord 
God  has  been  seen  by  men,  He  has  appeared  in  human 
shape,  and  that  He  so  appeared  during  Ids  thirty  years' 
life  among  them,  —  we  still  know  enough  to  assure  ua 
that  their  rank  among  living  creatures  is  that  of  pecul- 
iar glory  and  honor. 

But  our  thoughts  on  the  subject  are  extremely  super- 
ficial, if  we  suppose  that  man's  likeness  to  his  Maker 
extends  no  farther  than  to  his  physical  organization. 
The  body  of  a  man  is  the  least  important  part  of  him. 
It  is,  indeed,  scarcely  a  part  of  him  at  all,  but  simply 
the  material  covering  which  he  wears  during  his  life  in 
this  world.  The  man  himself  is  not  a  body,  but  a  soul, 


10  THE  DIVINE  LIKENESS. 

a  being  whose  real  life  consists  of  affections  and  thoughts, 
which  require  the  body  merely  as  an  instrument  for 
giving  themselves  outward  expression.  The  soul  or 
mind,  therefore,  must  be  especially  designated,  when 
man  is  said  to  be  made  in  the  image  and  likeness  of 
God. 

Surely  this  point  cannot  call  for  much  demonstration. 
Mere  external  resemblance  is  in  itself  a  matter  of  very 
little  consequence.  If  we  are  really  images  of  our 
Heavenly  Father,  we  must  somehow  or  other  resemble 
Him  in  character.  Our  inner  life  —  our  affections  and 
thoughts  —  must  bear  some  intelligible  likeness  to  his. 
But  how  can  this  be,  since  we  are  finite  and  imperfect) 
and  He  is  infinite  and  perfect  ? 

Our  conceptions  of  the  Divine  Being  utterly  fail  of 
precision  and  clearness,  unless  we  regard  Him  as  the  one 
and  only  source  of  life.  That  is  to  say,  He  has  life  in 
and  of  Himself;  He  alone  is  self-subsisting,  and  lives  from 
eternity.  All  other  beings  derive  their  life  directly  or 
indirectly  from  Him.  They  have  no  life  of  their  own  : 
they  are  only  forms  receptive  of  his  life.  Man  is  the 
highest  of  these  forms.  He  is  endowed  with  faculties 
of  which  the  lower  animals  are  entirely  destitute.  lie 
is  an  intelligent  and  rational  creature,  or,  at  least,  has 
the  power  of  becoming  such.  He  is  not  a  passive  re- 
cipient of  mere  corporeal  existence.  Not  his  body  alone 
receives  life  from  God  ;  but  his  mind  is  fed  from  the 
same  exhaustless  fountain.  God  is  the  source  of  affec- 
tion and  thought,  as  well  as  of  outward  being.  The 


THE  DIVINE  LIKENESS.  \\ 

mind  of  man  in  some  way  or  other  draws  its  sustenance 
from  the  mind  of  God. 

The  human  mind  consists  of  two  parts,  —  the  will 
and  the  understanding.  The  will  is  that  which  loves 
and  feels  ;  the  understanding  is  that  which  thinks  and 
reasons.  There  are  no  mental  operations  which  are  not 
comprehended  under  one  of  these  two  classes.  A  man 
is  in  the  genuine  order  of  his  creation  when  he  wills 
nothing  but  what  is  good,  and  thinks  nothing  but  what 
is  true.  The  Lord  God  is  love  and  wisdom.  His  will 
is  perfect  love  for  every  creature  ;  his  understanding 
is  perfect  wisdom  exercised  with  respect  to  all.  He 
can  will  only  what  is  good  ;  He  can  think  only  what  is 
true.  As  all  human  traits  and  actions  are  referable  to 
the  will  and  understanding,  so  are  all  divine  attributes 
and  operations  referable  to  absolute  love  and  wisdom. 
From  infinite  love,  according  to  infinite  wisdom,  does 
the  Lord  govern  the  universe. 

Man  is  such  a  form  of  life,  that  he  can  be  spiritually 
filled  with  the  divine  life.  He  can  receive  into  his  will 
and  understanding  something  of  the  love  and  wisdom 
which  are  the  Lord's  own  essence.  His  mind  may  be  a 
medium  of  pure  and  gentle  affections,  and  of  wise 
thoughts.  Love  from  the  Lord  may  be,  as  it  were, 
appropriated  by  him,  and  made  his  own  ;  it  may  be- 
come the  ruling  principle  of  his  life,  and  go  forth  from 
him,  as  from  a  new  centre,  to  the  Lord  who  gave  it, 
and  to  his  fellow-men  who  stand  in  need  of  it.  Divine 
wisdom  may  gain  entrance  into  his  understanding ;  and 


12  THE  DIVINE  LIKENESS. 

his  mind  may  be  full  of  inner  light,  which  diffuses  itself 
to  those  around  him.  It  behooves  us  always  to  remember 
that  nothing  pure,  and  gentle,  and  innocent  can  have  its 
origin  in  man.  All  goodness  and  truth  must  come 
from  Him  who  in  Himself  is  good  and  true.  Man,  to  be 
sure,  has  some  option  in  the  matter.  He  is  in  the 
midst  between  good  and  evil,  —  between  heaven  and 
hell,  —  and  has  the  power  to  turn  himself  to  the  one  or 
the  other,  as  he  shall  prefer.  In  other  words,  freedom 
is  a  human  faculty.  Men  are  not  made  to  act  blindly, 
ignorantly,  or  mechanically.  It  is  their  prerogative  not 
only  to  be  loved  by  the  Lord,  but  to  love  Him  in  re- 
turn. He  taught  them  how  to  love  Him  when  He  said, 
"  If  ye  love  me,  keep  my  commandments."  As  they 
have  freely  received,  so  must  they  freely  give.  Of 
their  own  accord  they  must  join  themselves  to  the 
Lord,  and  to  "  his  angels,  that  excel  in  strength,  that  do 
his  commandments,  hearkening  unto  the  voice  of  his 
word."  Unless  such  is  the  course  of  their  lives,  they 
will  inevitably  sink  down  into  evil  and  hell. 

Man  is  potentially  an  image  and  likeness  of  God, 
because  he  is  capable  of  receiving  God  into  himself. 
That  is  to  say,  he  is  mentally  and  spiritually  such  a 
form,  that  the  divine  love  and  wisdom,  which  are  the 
essential  divine  life  itself,  can,  with  his  free  consent  and 
cooperation,  enter  into,  and  form,  as  it  were,  a  part  of 
him.  He  is  an  image,  because  he  is  a  receptacle,  —  a 
mould,  so  to  speak,  —  in  which  the  infinite  divine  form 
may  be  finitely  reproduced.  The  potential  image  be- 


THE  DIVINE  LIKENESS.  13 

comes  an  actual  one,  when  his  will  is  a  receptacle  of 
the  divine  love  or  goodness,  and  his  understanding  is  a 
receptacle  of  the  divine  wisdom  or  truth.  Then  he  is 
like  God,  —  he  resembles  Him  as  much  as  a  finite  being 
can  resemble  the  Infinite  One.  He  is  pervaded  with 
the  Lord's  very  life,  which  he  still  uses  freely  as  his 
own ;  and  thus  he  is  most  intimately  conjoined  with  his 
Heavenly  Father.  Of  little  consequence  indeed  is  mere 
outward  shape,  in  comparison  with  this  interior  simili- 
tude! 

The  idea  that  the  body  of  man  is  a  receptacle  of 
life  is  nothing  new  ;  for  every  one  knows  that  the  body 
lives  by  virtue  of  something  —  the  spirit  or  soul  — 
within  it.  But  the  doctrine  that  the  spirit  or  soul  itself 
is  an  organized  form  and  a  recipient  vessel  is  as  novel 
as  it  is  striking.  It  forms  an  essential  part  of  the  New 
Church  system  of  belief,  and  prepares  the  way  for  a 
rational  understanding  of  many  subjects. 

Our  text  teaches  not  only  that  God  created  man  in 
his  own  likeness,  but  that  He  made  them  male  and  fe- 
male. In  the  day  when  they  were  created,  He  made 
them  male  and  female,  and  called  their  name  Adam, 
which  is  the  Hebrew  word  for  man.  Man  and  woman, 
therefore,  would  seem  to  have  been  created  simulta- 
neously in  the  very  day  of  their  creation  ;  as  may  in- 
deed appear  from  the  account  in  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis,  where  we  read  as  follows :  "  And  God  said, 
let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness. 
.  .  .  .  So  God  created  man  in  his  own  image, 


14  THE  DIVINE  LIKENESS. 


in  the  image  of  God  created  He  him ;  male  and  female 
created  He  them"  (vv.  26,  27). 

The  second  chapter,  it  is  true,  gives  an  apparently 
different  account,  from  which  it  would  seem  that  one 
man,  called  Adam,  was  first  created,  and  that  after  he 
had  been  placed  in  Eden,  and  had  received  his  instruc- 
tions respecting  the  trees  of  the  garden,  the  Lord  God 
concluded  that  it  was  not  good  for  him  to  be  alone, 
and  accordingly  made  him  an  help  meet  for  him.  He 
created  a  woman,  who  was  named  Eve,  and  was  given 
to  Adam  for  a  wife.  The  woman,  moreover,  was  made 
of  one  of  the  ribs  of  the  man,  and  was  thus  said  to  be 
"bone  of  his  bones,  and  flesh  of  his  flesh."  From  this 
single  pair  it  would  appear  that  the  whole  earth  was 
peopled,  and  that  the  whole  human  race  descended. 

So  we  have  two  distinct  narratives  of  the  creation 
of  mankind,  which  seem  to  contradict  each  other. 
Which,  then,  shall  we  accept  ?  Shall  we  believe  that 
man  came  first,  and  woman  afterwards,  or  that  from  the 
beginning  God  made  them  male  and  female  ?  Shall  we 
decide  that  woman  was  made  only  for  the  sake  of  man, 
—  to  relieve  his  loneliness,  so  to  speak,  —  or  that  the 
twofold  division  of  mankind  was  part  of  the  original 
scheme  of  creation  ?  Was  there  one  man  named  Adam, 
and  one  woman  named  Eve,  or  is  Adam  but  the  general 
term  for  man,  including  both  sexes,  according  to  what 
is  said  in  the  text :  "  Male  and  female  created  He  them, 
and  blessed  them,  and  called  their  name  Adam,  in  the 
day  when  they  were  created  ?  " 


THE  DIVINE  LIKENESS.  15 

On  the  ground  of  analogy,  and  on  every  rational 
ground,  we  cannot  help  believing  that  the  only  design 
which  the  Crt  ator  had  with  regard  to  human  beings 
was  that  they  should  exist  as  male  and  female,  —  that 
He  so  created  them  from  the  beginning,  —  that  the 
two  are  coequal  and  complemental,  —  that  they  are  es- 
sential to  the  natural,  moral,  and  spiritual  welfare  of 
each  other,  —  that  both  are  necessary  parts  of  the  great 
whole,  which  is  known  by  the  name  of  man,  —  and  that 
in  the  twain  made  one  flesh  is  realized  the  most  perfect 
image  and  likeness  of  God.  All  analogy,  to  which  ref- 
erence was  just  made,  shows  that  there  was  nothing  arbi- 
trary or  exceptional  in  this  matter.  Duality  is  the  law 
of  the  universe.  Not  only  in  the  aniiml  kingdom,  but 
also  among  the  plants,  we  find  the  twofold  mode  of 
being,  which  gives  rise  to  the  expressions  male  and  fe- 
male. The  two-  sexes  are  necessary  for  rounding  and 
completing  the  conditions  of  life,  as  well  as  for  produc- 
ing new  forms  of  it.  Creation  would  be  but  half  itself, 
if  all  beings  were  male,  or  all  were  female.  But  we 
need  not  enlarge  upon  facts  so  obvious.  The  only 
point  for  us  to  remember  is  that  man  can  have  been  no 
exception  to  the  general  rule. 

As  to  the  different  Scripture  statements  before  alluded 
to,  they  would,  like  many  other  parts  of  the  early  chap- 
ters of  Genesis,  naturally  occasion  much  perplexity,  if 
it  were  necessary  to  receive  them  as  literal  truth.  But 
the  New  Church  doctrines  show  us  that  they  are  to  be 
understood  in  a  spiritual,  not  in  a  literal  sense.  If 


16  THE  DIVINE  LIKENESS. 

tliere  were  time,  it  could  easily  be  shown  that  the  first 
ten  or  eleven  chapters  of  our  Bibles  were  never  de- 
signed to  be  a  history  of  natural  events.  Many  of  the 
statements  there  made,  by  their  contradiction  of  well 
known  laws  of  nature,  and  by  their  contradiction  of 
each  other,  forbid  any  such  method  of  interpretation. 
How,  for  instance,  could  there  be  successions  of  day 
and  night,  before  the  sun  existed  ?  How  could  all  the 
beasts,  birds,  and  reptiles  have  lived  together  in  the  ark  ? 
Hundreds  of  such  questions  might  be  raised,  into  the 
consideration  of  which  we  cannot  now  enter.  Only  the 
conclusion  can  be  mentioned,  to  which  we  are  brought 
under  the  guidance  of  New  Church  doctrines.  It  is, 
that  as  the  Scriptures  are  infinite  divine  truth,  they  have 
within  them  infinite  divine  meaning,  —  that  within  the 
sense  of  the  letter  are  spiritual  and  heavenly  senses, 
which  relate  to  spiritual  and  heavenly  things,  —  that 
the  narrative  parts  of  the  Word  have,  in  general,  a 
groundwork  of  actual  history,  —  but  that  such  is  not 
the  case  with  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis,  which  can 
be  received  in  their  internal  sense  alone.  According  to 
this  sense,  Adam  is  a  generic  term,  which  signifies  the 
men  of  the  most  ancient  church  or  period  on  this  earth 
The  six  days  of  creation,  culminating  in  the  birth  of 
Adam,  represent  six  successive  states  or  stages  of  re- 
generation, —  that  is,  of  spiritual  growth  and  develop- 
ment. The  account  of  the  garden  of  Eden,  and  of  the 
primitive  life  of  Adam  and  Eve  there,  describes  the 
pure  and  exalted  state  of  the  men  of  the  most  ancient 


THE  DIVINE  LIKENESS.  17 

church.  The  temptation  of  the  serpent,  and  the  eating 
of  the  forbidden  fruit,  set  forth  in  representative  lan- 
guage the  way  in  which  that  church  began  to  decline 
from  its  pristine  purity  and  innocence. 

In  this  manner  is  the  narrative  to  be  explained.  The 
only  conclusion  to  which  it  brings  us  on  the  subject  un- 
der consideration,  is  that  human  beings  have  always  ex- 
isted as  men  and  women,  that  this  is  the  very  order  of 
their  creation,  and  is  essential  to  their  happiness  and 
progress.  "  He  that  made  them  at  the  beginning,  made 
them  male  and  female,  and  said,  For  this  cause  shall  a 
man  leave  father  and  mother,  and  shall  cleave  to  his 
wife,  and  they  twain  shall  be  one  flesh "  (Matt.  xix. 
4,  5). 

Entering  thus  deeply  into  the  plan  of  the  Creator, 
the  distinction  between  man  and  woman  is  in  no  wise  an 
accidental  one.  Shall  we  regard  it  as  merely  external 
and  superficial  ?  Assuredly  we  cannot  do  so.  Every 
consideration  forbids  it.  All  observation  and  experi- 
ence teach  that  men  and  women  possess  radically  differ- 
ent natures.  They  are  unlike  in  mind  and  character. 
The  physical  dissimilarity  is  but  a  type  and  index  of 
the  spiritual.  All  the  instincts  of  humanity,  if  they  are 
not  smothered  by  intellectual  theories  and  speculations, 
proclaim  that  there  are  certain  masculine  qualities  which 
render  the  character  of  a  man  most  truly  admirable, 
and  certain  feminine  qualities  which  render  the  charac- 
ter of  a  woman  most  truly  charming  and  beautiful. 
These  distinctive  trails  cannot  be  interchanged.  A  man 


18  THE  DIVINE  LIKENESS. 

cannot  by  any  means  be  transformed  into  a  woman,  nor 
a  woman  into  a  man.  That  which  is  most  excellent  in 
the  one,  may  be  quite  the  reverse  in  the  other.  The 
two  were  born,  and  are  by  nature  fitted,  for  wholly 
different  positions  in  life.  Each  has  his  own  peculiar 
duties,  and  his  own  appropriate  sphere  of  action. 

Man  and  woman  are  equal,  but  not  alike.  They  are 
equal  none  the  less  for  being  unlike.  Each  has  the 
qualities  which  the  other  lacks.  Each  is  adapted  to  the 
precise  work  which  the  other  cannot  do,  or,  at  least,  can- 
not do  as  well.  They  are  coordinate  with  each  other. 
Both  are  necessary  for  filling  out  the  true  conception  of 
humanity.  So  do  the  Scriptures  plainly  seem  to  teach. 
Not  only  in  our  text,  but  in  the  parallel  passage  of  a 
previous  chapter,  the  fact  that  man  was  created  male  and 
female,  is  coupled  with  the  other  fact  that  he  was  made 
in  the  divine  image  and  likeness.  These  two  great 
truths  are  placed  together  in  such  a  way  as  to  make 
them  seem  inseparable.  And,  indeed,  who  can  doubt 
that  they  are  inseparable  ?  Who  can  doubt  that  man  is 
an  image  and  likeness  of  God,  for  the  very  reason  that 
he  is  created  male  and  female  ?  The  fullest  and  truest 
image  of  the  Lord  is  not  a  single  human  being,  however 
far  advanced  on  the  path  of  regenerate  life,  but  the 
grand  aggregate  of  human  beings,  in  this  world  and  the 
other,  who  live  according  to  divine  order,  and  are  the 
willing  receptacles  and  mediums  of  the  divine  influence. 
In  this  great  body  of  humanity,  man  is  one  half  and 
woman  is  the  other.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  if  by 


THE  DIVINE  LIKENESS.  19 

any  means  these  two  halves  were  to  be  separated  from 
each  other,  the  image  would  be  grossly  mutilated,  if  not 
utterly  destroyed.  The  masculine  and  feminine  qualities 
are  both  needed,  in  order  to  complete  the  likeness.  So, 
also,  a  man  and  wife,  who  are  united  happily  in  marriage, 
together  form  a  more  perfect  image  and  likeness  of  God, 
than  either  of  them  alone. 

We  have  seen  that  the  truest  image  of  God  is  a 
spiritual  image.  In  his  mind  man  exhibits  the  only 
genuine  and  lasting  resemblance  to  his  Heavenly  Father. 
It  is  therefore  the  united  minds  of  men  and  women, 
which  show  forth  his  completest  likeness.  The  Lord, 
we  have  seen,  is  love  itself  and  wisdom  itself.  His  im- 
age is  a  receptacle  of  his  love  and  wisdom.  Nor  do  we 
need  to  look  far,  in  order  to  perceive  that  on  that  plane 
of  life,  at  least,  which  is  •  visible  to  us,  man  is  preemi- 
nently a  receptacle  of  wisdom,  and  woman  of  love. 
The  distinctive  masculine  characteristics  are  those  in 
which  the  understanding  takes  the  lead ;  and  the  dis- 
tinctive feminine  characteristics  are  those  in  which  will 
or  affection  takes  the  lead.  Man  is  more  frequently 
governed  by  his  judgment  and  reason,  woman  by  her 
feelings  and  perceptions.  Not  indeed  that  all  intellect 
belongs  to  the  male  sex,  and  all  affection  to  the  female. 
But  the  two  classes  of  faculties  comprised  under  these 
heads,  respectively  predominate  in  them.  And  when 
men  and  women  come  together  in  a  good  and  orderly 
way,  they  supply,  each  to  each,  just  what  is  wanted. 
They  make  good  one  another's  deficiencies.  They  fill 
out  a  more  perfect  me:isure  of  a  man. 


20  THE  DIVINE  LIKENESS 

At  a  future  time  we  shall  consider  some  of  the  par- 
ticular branches  of  this  great  subject.  For  the  present, 
let  us  treasure  up  the  grand  general  principle  which  is 
the  root  and  trunk  of  the  whole  matter,  —  that  when 
the  Lord  God  would  create  a  being  who  should  become 
the  spiritual  image  and  likeness  of  Himself,  He  made  him 
in  two  parts,  essentially  unlike,  yet  wonderfully  adapted 
to  each  other,  and  called  them  male  and  female. 


n. 

THE   MARRIAGE    COVENANT. 

"  And  He  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Have  ye  not  read,  that  He 
which  made  them  at  the  beginning,  made  them  male  and  female,  and 
said,  For  this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  father  and  mother,  and  shall 
cleave  to  his  wife :  and  they  twain  shall  be  one  flesh  ?  Wherefore 
they  are  no  more  twain,  but  one  flesh.  What  therefore  God  hath 
joined  together,  let  not  man  put  asunder  —  MATT.  xix.  4,  5,  6. 

THE  order  of  ideas  in  these  words  is  worthy  of 
notice.  First,  we  are  told  that  "  He  which  made 
them  at  the  beginning,  made  them  male  and  female." 
This  was  the  original  condition  or  mode  of  human  exist- 
ence. Then,  as  a  consequence  of  this,  or,  as  it  is  ex- 
pressed, "for  this  cause"  we  are  taught  that  a  man 
"  shall  leave  father  and  mother,  and  shall  cleave  to  his 
wife."  That  is  to  say,  the  two  sexes  were  created  for 
each  other.  For  the  very  reason  that  they  were  made 
male  and  female,  they  are  to  live,  not  separate,  but 
united.  The  man  must  cleave  to  his  wife. 

Furthermore,  the  relation  into  which  they  enter  will 
be  the  most  intimate  of  human  relations.  "  They  twain 
shall  be  one  flesh."  Stronger  than  the  ties  of  blood 
are  those  by  which,  under  Divine  Providence,  a  man 
and  his  wife  should  be  joined.  The  relation  to  father 
and  mother  is  declared  to  be  subordinate  and  secondary. 


22  THE  MARRIAGE   COVENANT. 

The  union  is  designed  to  be  of  such  a  character  that  the 
haud  of  God  may  be  recognized  in  it,  and  the  divine 
benediction  may  rest  upon  it ;  for  it  is  said,  "  What  God 
hath  joined  together."  And  it  is  also  designed  to  be 
binding  and  permanent ;  for  it  is  said,  "  What  God  hath 
joined  together,  let  not  man  put  asunder."  So  is  the 
matter  summed  up  for  our  instruction  and  guidance  by 
Him  who  spake  as  never  man  spake. 

The  first  point,  suggested  by  the  words,  "  He  which 
made  them  at  the  beginning,  made  them  male  and  fe- 
male," has  been  previously  considered.  We  have  seen 
that  the  dual  form  of  human  life  is  of  divine  appoint- 
ment. It  was  by  no  accident  that  man  was  created  male 
and  female.  An  essential  part  of  the  very  plan  of  crea- 
tion was,  that  human  beings  should  exist  in  two  classes, 
spiritually  and  naturally  differing  from  each  other ;  and 
that  thus  they  should  grow,  both  individually  and  col- 
lectively, into  a  truer  image  and  likeness  of  God,  than 
would  otherwise  be  possible.  We  have  seen  that  the 
distinction  between  the  sexes  is  a  radical  one.  They 
are  unlike  in  their  mental  constitution  and  character. 
They  are  dissimilar  forms  or  receptacles  of  the  divine 
life.  And  for  the  very  reason  that  they  are  different, 
they  are  peculiarly  adapted  to  each  other,  and  capable 
of  conferring  and  receiving  mutual  benefits.  Together, 
not  separately,  they  fill  out  the  measure  of  our  common 
nature. 

All  this  is  very  general  instruction.  Our  text  of  this 
morning  introduces  us  to  further  particulars.  It  shows 


THE  MARRIAGE  COVENANT.  23 

that  the  way  in  which  men  and  women  come  into  their 
proper  relation  to  one  another  is  by  means  of  marriage. 
They  were  intended  to  lire  in  pairs,  —  one  husband 
with  one  wife.  The  design  of  the  Creator  is  accom- 
plished, when  the  twain  are  made  "  one  flesh."  God 
joins  them  together ;  man  must  not  put  them  asunder. 
Let  us  then  briefly  consider  the  subject  of  marriage,  — 
not  so  much  what  it  is  in  the  present  disordered  state 
of  the  world,  as  what  it  was  designed  to  be  in  the  true 
order  of  Divine  Providence. 

The  first  thing  to  be  said  is  that  the  union  of  husband 
and  wife  was  unquestionably  meant  to  be  a  spiritual 
union.  This  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  man  and  woman 
are  the  spiritual  counterparts  of  each  other.  They  are 
able  to  become,  as  no  two  of  the  same  sex  can,  of  one 
mind  and  one  spirit.  To  this  oneness  of  soul  every 
pure-minded  person  who  looks  forward  to  the  possibility 
of  marriage,  instinctively  aspires.  The  acknowledged 
ground  of  anticipated  happiness  is  mutual  love  and  re- 
gard stronger  than  any  friendship.  It  is  an  intuitive 
feeling  which  needs  no  reasoning  to  support  it,  that 
there  should  be  a  peculiar  bond  of  agreement  and  sym- 
pathy between  those  who  undertake  to  go  through  life 
together.  They  should  have  similar  tastes  and  senti- 
ments. They  should  love  the  same  things,  and  so  be 
able  to  share  each  other's  thoughts  to  the  full.  In  a 
word,  they  should,  in  all  respects,  feel  inwardly  near  to 
one  another,  else  their  connection  will  be  a  mere  con- 
ventional arrangement,  devoid  of  all  that  makes  mar- 
riage a  high  and  holy  relation.  4 


24  THE  MARRIAGE  COVENANT. 

The  love  which  receives  in  marriage  its  full  and  or- 
derly fruition  has  never  been  wholly  unrecognized  by 
men.  From  time  immemorial  it  has  been  the  burden 
of  romance  and  song.  Hundreds  of  hearts  have  beat  in 
sympathy  with  youths  and  maidens  who,  having  no  ex- 
istence out  of  works  of  fiction,  have,  through  good  and 
evil  fortune,  clung  faithfully  to  each  other.  No  "terms 
of  detestation  have  seemed  too  strong  to  be  applied  to 
those  who,  for  mercenary  or  other  selfish  reasons,  stood 
between  true  love  and  the  accomplishment  of  its  wishes. 
Thus  the  doctrine  has  ever  been  tacitly  admitted,  at 
least  in  theory,  that  marriage  was  a  matter  of  spiritual 
import,  resting  on  the  deepest  and  tenderest  feelings 
of  our  nature,  and  nowise  to  be  tampered  with  for 
merely  external  and  worldly  causes. 

The  true  idea  of  marriage  presupposes  not  only  a 
peculiar  feeling  of  attachment,  but  also  special  compat- 
ibility of  character  and  temperament.  It  presupposes 
that  the  tie  which  binds  man  and  wife  together  is  dif- 
ferent from  that  which  attracts  them  toward  any  other 
person.  And  if  this  train  of  thought  be  carried  out  to 
its  full  extent,  the  only  conclusion  we  can  reach,  is,  that 
if  human  beings  were  living  in  the  true  order  of  their 
creation,  every  man  would  find  among  women,  one  in 
particular,  with  whom  he  could  be  most  happily  and 
beneficially  united. 

Here  let  us  pause  a  moment,  to  consider  what  a  great 
and  glorious  light  is  thrown  upon  the  whole  subject  by 
even  these  few  general  reflections.  The  subject  itself  is 


THE  MARRIAGE   COVENANT.  25 

one  of  the  highest  practical  importance  ;  for  it  necessarily 
comes  home  to  all ;  and  it  involves  perhaps  beyond  any 
other  that  could  be  named,  the  issues  of  human  happi- 
ness and  misery.  It  is  a  matter  on  which  no  false  no- 
tions of  delicacy  should  force  us  to  be  silent.  It  is  a 
matter  on  which  every  one  needs  instruction.  It  is  the 
subject  of  one  of  the  ten  commandments.  A  sense  of 
duty,  therefore,  would  not  allow  us  to  pass  it  over  at  all 
times  without  notice.  But  there  is  no  reason  why  we 
should  not  approach  it  in  a  pure  and  reverent  spirit,  believ- 
ing that  the  truth  concerning  it  is  a  pearl  of  great  price. 

We  say,  then,  that  much  light  is  thrown  upon  the 
subject  by  the  simple  fact  that  marriage  is  properly  a 
spiritual  relationship.  This  truth  is  of  inestimable  value 
in  directing  the  thoughts  of  the  young.  By  means  of 
it  they  are  taught  to  look  forward  to  marriage  as  some- 
thing which  calls  for  the  highest  and  best  capabilities 
of  their  nature.  It  was  designed  to  be  of  heaven, 
heavenly,  not  of  the  earth,  earthy.  If  the  right  con- 
ceptions of  it  are  formed,  it  is  found  to  be  based  on  no 
merely  natural  consideration.  It  is  not,  for  instance,  a 
question  of  property.  Dollars  and  cents  have  nothing  to 
do  with  it.  A  man  should  marry  his  wife  for  what  she 
is,  not  for  what  she  has.  Worldly  ease  and  pleasure  are 
of  little  consequence  in  comparison  with  internal  unity 
and  peace.  To  share  an  abundance  of  this  world's  goods, 
and  to  have  nothing  else  to  share,  is  to  be  poor  indeed. 

Again,  a  young  man  should  be  taught  to  discriminate 
between  what  is  natural  and  what  is  spiritual  in  the 


26  THE  MARRIAGE  COVENANT. 

miud  both  of  himself  and  others.  He  should  try  to 
make  sure  that  he  is  drawn  by  other  than  outward  at- 
tractions. With  young  people  of  both  sexes  natural 
grace  and  beauty  are  very  potent  influences.  Charms 
of  person  and  manner  are  often  allowed  to  engross  at- 
tention, to  the  total  neglect  of  deeper  and  more  essential 
qualities.  Too  frequently  no  glance  is  cast  below  the 
surface,  until  it  is  too  late.  Then  pain  and  trouble,  if 
not  actual  alienation,  are  pretty  sure  to  follow.  One 
who  has  learned  to  estimate  character  at  its  true  value, 
possesses  a  great  advantage  over  others.  The  first 
questions  he  asks  himself  respecting  one  in  whom  he  is 
interested  will  be,  Do  we  understand  each  other's  deep- 
est thoughts  ?  Can  we  enter  into  each  other's  inmost 
life  ?  Are  we  likely  to  sympathize  truly  and  fully  in  all 
matters  of  any  moment  ?  Take  religion,  for  example. 
Whenever  one's  religion  is  a  thing  of  vital  consequence 
to  him,  he  cannot  bear  the  thought  of  not  sharing  it 
with  his  nearest  friends.  It  engages  his  highest  and 
tenderest  feelings.  It  is  the  subject  of  his  inmost 
thoughts.  Shall  it  be  forbidden  ground  between  hus- 
band and  wife,  in  their  dealings  with  each  other?  Shall 
they  go  their  separate  ways  to  worship  the  Lord  with 
strangers  ?  But  we  need  not  enlarge  upon  a  point  so 
plain.  Every  one  can  see  how  great  a  privation  is  sus- 
tained by  the  man  or  woman,  who,  being  deeply  im- 
pressed with  a  sense  of  dependence  on  the  Lord  and 
the  need  of  divine  protection,  or  with  the  truth  of  any 
system  of  religious  doctrine,  receives  no  responsive 


THE  MARRIAGE   COVENANT.  27 

sympathy  from  the  partner  of  his  life,  but  only  opposi- 
tion, coldness,  or  ridicule.  Surely,  one  should  think 
long  and  prayerfully  before  forming  an  alliance  which 
is  in  danger  of  producing  such  results. 

He  who  views  marriage  from  its  spiritual  side  must 
regard  it  as  a  sacred  thing.  As  it  is  not  to  be  con- 
tracted on  any  external  or  trivial  grounds,  so  it  should 
not  be  set  aside  except  for  the  gravest  reasons.  Nor 
should  it  be  lightly  thought  or  spoken  of.  The  offices 
of  religion  are  properly  invoked  to  solemnize  it,  because 
religious  thoughts  and  feelings  should  be  uppermost  in 
connection  with  it.  The  bonds  of  matrimony  are  rightly 
called  holy  bonds.  It  is  not  becoming  in  men  or  women 
to  dogmatize  on  this  or  any  other  subject.  It  is  not  for 
them  to  proclaim  aloud  that  they  have  certainly  found 
the  one  partner  set  apart  for  them  by  Divine  Providence. 
But  after  the  marriage  is  consummated,  they  should  en- 
deavor to  think  no  thought  contrary  to  this.  All  their 
actions,  at  least,  should  be  in  agreement  with  this  sup- 
position. Fidelity,  devotedness,  and  unceasing  kind- 
ness to  the  one  whom  he  has  chosen  for  a  wife,  are  al- 
ways the  husband's  duty,  as  long  as  they  live  together ; 
and  the  same  is  the  duty  of  the  wife.  Every  tendency 
to  think  that  they  are  not  suited  to  each  other,  and  can- 
not dwell  together  happily  (except,  of  course,  where 
the  outward  life  of  either  of  them  is  clearly  evil),  should 
be  resisted  as  a  temptation,  and  avoided  as  a  snare. 
Only  by  striving  to  be  faithful,  each  to  each,  in  heart 
and  soul,  as  well  as  in  external  conduct,  can  they  make 
any  progress  on  the  path  to  heaven. 


28  THE  MARRIAGE   COVENANT. 

The  idea  that  marriage  is  designed  to  be  primarily  a 
spiritual  relationship,  must  necessarily  tend  to  purify 
and  elevate  our  ways  of  thinking  about  it.  We  see 
that  the  happiest  state  of  existence  is  that  in  which  a 
man  and  wife  are  joined  by  a  perfect  sympathy  with  re- 
spect to  all  the  most  vital  issues  of  life,  and  by  a  com- 
mon love  for  all  that  is  highest  and  holiest ;  and  seeing 
this,  we  know  that  there  is  no  way  of  being  prepared 
for  such  a  state,  except  by  trying  to  cherish  the  heav- 
enly affections  which  belong  to  it.  Evil  influences  will 
turn  the  thoughts  downwards  and  outwards.  From  hell 
there  surges  up  a  continual  stream  of  selfish,  impure,  and 
even  sensual  feelings,  which  claim  preeminence  in  the 
mind.  This  influence  is  necessarily  subversive  of  the 
good,  pure,  and  holy  state  of  marriage.  Only  so  far 
as  one  shuns  as  sin  against  God,  the  evil  forbidden  in 
the  sixth  commandment,  that  is  to  say,  all  unchastity, 
whether  in  thought  or  deed,  can  he  come  into  the  true 
order  of  his  being.  Only  on  this  condition  can  his  life 
be  brought  into  harmony  with  the  divine  life.  The 
Lord,  in  this  as  in  other  respects,  is  always  striving  to 
raise  men  up  ;  and  all  the  hosts  of  heaven  are  cooper- 
ating with  Him.  Their  efforts  are  crowned  with  suc- 
cess, whenever  a  man  is  induced  to  turn  of  his  own 
accord  from  all  sinful  and  merely  natural  desires,  and 
to  take  pleasure  only  in  the  idea  of  union  with  one  to 
whom  he  is  drawn  by  the  highest  affections  of  which 
he  is  capable.  The  best  education  which  children  and 
youth  can  receive  on  this  subject  is  that  which  leads 


THE  MARRIAGE   COVENANT.  29 

them  to  esteem  marriage  as  sacred  before  all  other 
human  relations,  and  as  being  possible  in  any  true 
sense,  only  to  those  who  have  clean  hands  and  pure 
hearts.  Alas,  that  there  should  be  in  the  world  so  much 
that  is  of  an  opposite  character  —  so  many  influences 
which  make  against  purity  and  elevation  of  thought  in 
the  relations  between  man  and  woman  —  so  much  dis- 
position to  degrade  the  marriage  covenant  to  a  mere  civil 
contract,  and  to  turn  all  higher  sentiments  respecting  it 
to  jest  and  ridicule  ! 

A  few  words  now  on  the  character  of  the  love  by 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  God  seeks  to  join  man  and  wife 
together,  and  to  make  of  them  one  flesh.  In  the  first 
place,  it  must  bear  a  general  resemblance  to  all  pure  and 
unselfish  love.  It  must  come  under  the  one  grand  head 
of  love  to  the  neighbor.  It  must  lead  a  man  to  desire 
the  happiness  of  the  beloved  one,  as  much  as,  or  more 
than,  his  own.  The  love  of  rule  must  be  far  from  it. 
The  disposition  to  be  ministered  unto,  must  be  subser- 
vient to  that  of  ministering.  The  separate  wills  should 
make  themselves  known  by  tlieir  voluntary  blending  and 
cooperation,  not  by  any  wish  to  override  each  other. 
Whenever  the  true  ideal  of  marriage  is  realized,  there 
can  be  no  trouble  on  this  point ;  for  each  of  them,  the 
husband  and  wife,  recognizes  the  other  by  a  kind  of 
intuition,  as  the  superior  in  his  or  her  peculiar  province, 
and  cheerfully,  nay,  even  joyfully,  gives  up  all  claims  to 
any  unqualified  priority.  A  position  which  is  never  as- 
sailed, never  needs  to  be  defended.  Rights  which  are 


30  THE  MARRIAGE  COVENANT. 

never  encroached  upon,  do  not  need  to  be  asserted.  If 
the  husband  is  acknowledged  as  first  in  bis  field  of  ac- 
tion, and  the  wife  as  first  in  hers,  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion of  authority  between  them.  They  are  alike  the 
rulers  and  the  subjects  of  each  other.  They  take  as 
much  pleasure  in  being  subjects  as  in  being  rulers. 
They  love  the  sphere  in  which  they  are  subordinate,  no 
less  than  that  in  which  they  are  superior.  Together,  as 
king  and  queen,  they  govern  a  happy  and  united  king- 
dom ;  and  the  chief  support  of  either  throne  consists  in 
the  loving  encouragements  and  concessions  which  it  re- 
ceives from  the  occupant  of  the  other. 

To  begin  with,  therefore,  —  the  relation  between  man 
and  wife  should  be  an  exemplification  of  the  grand  prin- 
ciple, "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  But 
beyond  this,  their  love  for  one  another  must  be  peculiar 
in  its  character,  and  different  from  that  which  they  feel 
toward  their  fellow-creatures  generally. 

We  saw  on  a  previous  occasion  when  the  subject  was 
under  consideration,  that  the  masculine  qualities  are 
those  in  which  the  understanding  is  prominent,  and  the 
feminine  qualities  those  in  which  the  will  is  promi- 
nent. Men,  as  a  whole,  are  more  frequently  influenced 
by.  considerations  which  appeal  to  their  reason,  and 
women  by  such  as  appeal  to  their  feelings.  A  man  re- 
quires time  and  labored  thought  for  the  formation  of  his 
opinions.  A  woman  will  more  readily  take  them  on  the 
authority  of  one  whom  she  respects,  or  because  they 
accord  with  her  perceptions  of  what  is  good  and  desira- 


THE  MARRIAGE   COVENANT.  31 

ble.  Man  was  designed  to  be  the  peculiar  receptacle 
and  image  of  the  wisdom,  and  woman  of  the  love, 
which  together  constitute  the  essential  nature  of  the 
Lord. 

Whenever  a  man  and  wife  are  suitably  united,  they 
are  like  understanding  and  will  in  the  same  mind.  The 
thoughts  of  the  husband  are  to  the  wife  like  her  own. 
She  loves  to  be  guided  by  his  clearer  judgment,  even  as 
she  loves  to  lean  upon  his  stronger  arm.  When  he  goes 
out  to  his  daily  work,  her  heart  goes  with  him.  She 
takes  pleasure  in  his  sagacity,  clear-headedness,  power  of 
distinguishing  between  right  and  wrong,  and  ease  in 
overcoming  obstacles  which  to  her  appear  insurmounta- 
ble. She  shrinks  with  all  her  woman's  nature  from  the 
rough  contact  of  the  outside  world,  the  tumult  and 
strife,  the  jangling  of  contrary  opinions,  the  endless  con 
flict  of  opposing  interests ;  and  is  thankful  beyond 
measure  that  she  has  one  who  is  able  and  willing  to  do 
all  this  hard  work  for  her,  one  who  possesses  her  respect 
and  confidence,  one  on  whom  she  can  depend  to  protect 
her,  not  only  from  brute  force,  but  from  cunning,  deceit, 
avarice,  and  every  other  selfish  influence  which,  in  this 
wicked  world,  needs  to  be  exposed  and  resisted.  Truth 
is  the  means  which  men  have  for  contending  with  evil. 
The  mind  in  which  truth,  or  the  understanding  of  truth, 
predominates,  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  warfare  ;  and  such 
a  mind  is  that  of  a  true  man.  Every  true  wife  glories 
in  this  firm  support,  which  serves  the  needs  of  her 
spiritual,  no  less  than  of  her  natural  life  ;  and  of  noth- 


THE  MARRIAGE   COVENANT. 


ing  is  she  less  ashamed  than  of  owning  her  comparative 
weakness  and  dependence  in  this  respect.  The  more 
dependent  she  can  be  in  the  way  which  has  been  indi- 
c  ted,  —  that  is  to  say,  the  more  of  manly  wisdom  and 
strength  she  feels  she  has  to  lean  upon,  —  the  greater 
is  her  happiness 

And  what  is  the  spiritual  office  which  the  wife  per- 
forms for  her  husband  ?  What  would  man  be  without 
woman  ?  No  one  need  be  told  of  the  condition  of  merely 
natural  men  when  cut  off  from  female  society,  —  how 
rough,  coarse,  and  even  brutiil  they  become,  how  devoid 
of  gentleness  and  refinement.  The  masculine  character 
by  itself  is  hard  and  unlovely.  The  reason  is,  because 
it  is  the  tendency  of  mere  intellect  to  be  wholly  absorbed 
in  itself.  At  the  bottom  of  all  the  disagreeable  mani- 
festations just  spoken  of  are  overweening  self-confidence 
and  self-admiration.  The  greatest  bane  of  the  male  sex, 
as  such,  is  pride  in  their  own  intelligence.  And  from 
this  impediment  to  their  spiritual  progress  and  happi- 
ness, woman  was  sent  to  deliver  them.  The  effect  of 
her  influence  is  to  soften  and  refine  them,  to  awaken 
gentle  and  tender  feelings  where  they  would  otherwise 
have  no  existence.  The  pride  of  intelligence  and  the 
spirit  of  self-admiration  are  changed  into  a  love  for  what 
is  relatively  helpless  and  dependent.  Strength,  which, 
reacting  upon  itself,  would  be  the  source  of  ruin,  be- 
comes a  new  and  utterly  different  thing  when  it  is  ex- 
pended on  behalf  of  those  who  need  its  protection. 
Woman,  by  diverting  man's  thoughts  to  herself,  keeps 


THE  MARRIAGE   COVENANT.  33 

him  from  being  devoured  by  his  own  pride  and  self-con- 
fidence. She  becomes,  as  it  were,  his  second  self,  a  self 
out  of  himself,  which  he  can  love  unselh>hly,  and  thus 
without  danger;  just  as  the  rib,  in  the  symbolical  lan- 
guage of  Scripture,  is  said  to  have  been  taken  out  of 
Adam,  and  made  into  a  woman,  because  it  was  not  good 
that  the  man  should  be  alone. 

We  have  seen  heretofore  that  man  was  intended  to 
be  preeminently  a  form  and  receptacle  of  wisdom,  and 
woman  of  love.  But  as  regards  the  relation  of  hus- 
band and  wife,  this  statement  admits  of  greater  exact- 
ness of  expression.  The  man  was  created  to  be  a  form 
of  wisdom,  and  the  woman,  of  love  for  that  wisdom, 
sis  it  exists  in  him.  It  is  not  for  him  to  be  enamored  of 
his  own  intellect,  or  of  the  aggregate  of  manly  qualities 
which  may  be  comprised  under  the  general  name  of 
wisdom.  But  his  wife  may  without  blame  love  them 
better  than  any  other  finite  thing  ;  and  he,  instead  of 
them,  loves  her. 

The  following  brief  passage  from  Swedenborg  con- 
tains a  concise  statement  of  the  subject.  He  says, 
"  The  will  of  the  wife  conjoins  itself  with  the  under- 
standing of  the  man,  and  thence  the  understanding  of 
the  man  witli  the  will  of  ti;e  wife.  The  reason  is  because 
the  male  is  born  that  he  may  become  understanding, 
and  the  female  that  she  may  become  will,  loving  the  un- 
derstanding of  the  male  ;  from  which  it  follows  that 
conjugial  conjunction  is  that  of  the  will  of  the  wife 
with  the  understanding  of  the  man,  and  the  reciprocal 
3 


34  THE  MARRIAGE   COVENANT. 

conjunction  of  the  understanding  of  the  man  with  the 
will  of  the  wife.  Every  one  sees  that  the  conjunction 
of  the  understanding  and  the  will  is  most  close,  and  that 
it  is  such,  that  the  one  faculty  can  enter  into  the  other, 
and  be  delighted  from  conjunction  and  in  it."  (  Conju- 
gial  Love,  No.  159.) 

Such  is  the  marriage  relation,  as  designed  by  Him 
who  made  men  male  and  female.  No  right-minded  per- 
son can  doubt  that  it  is  the  most  eminent  state  of  Im- 
man  existence.  That  the  world  at  present  should  know 
so  little  of  it,  is  nothing  strange.  Not  until  mankind 
in  general  cease  to  prefer  their  own  to  their  neighbors' 
happiness,  can  the  true  conception  of  marriage  be  gen- 
erally brought  down  into  the  life.  Yet  is  it  no  small 
thing  that  such  a  conception  should  exist  in  the  mind  ; 
for  its  tendency  must  always  be  to  purify  and  elevate 
the  thoughts  on  all  matters  touching  the  relation  between 
man  and  woman,  thus  helping  us  all,  whatever  our  sit- 
uation and  circumstances,  to  perform  our  duties  in  this 
life,  and  preparing  us  for  the  greater  ble?sedne.«s  of  the 
life  to  come. 


Ill 

THE  RESPECTIVE  DUTIES  OF  MEN   AND 
WOMEN. 

"  The  woman  shall  not  wear  that  which  pertaineth  unto  a  man,  neither 
shall  a  man  put  on  a  woman's  garment :  for  all  that  do  so  are  abomina- 
tion unto  the  Lord  thy  God."  —  DEUT.  xxii.  5. 

fTMlE  way  in  which  this  verse  is  regarded  will  depend 
-•-  on  the  general  ideas  which  one  has  of  the  Scrip- 
tures themselves.  Those  who  have  no  respect  for  the 
Bible  as  a  whole,  will,  of  course,  have  none  for  any  par- 
ticular portion  of  it.  Those,  again,  who  look  upon  the 
Jewish  law  as  something  which  was  originally  spoken 
and  delivered  by  God  to  men,  but  as  having  now  out- 
lived the  day  of  its  usefulness  and  become  obsolete,  will 
hardly  be  disposed  to  attach  to  the  passage  before  us  any 
peculiar  significance.  It  will  be  considered  worthy  of 
special  attention  only  by  such  as  believe  the  Word  to  be 
divine  truth,  partaking  of  the  infinite  and  eternal  at- 
tributes of  Him  who  gave  it. 

But  how  is  the  passage  to  be  understood  ?  Was  it 
designed  simply  as  instruction  concerning  the  garments 
which  men  and  women  should  wear  ?  Those  who 
believe  that  the  distinction  between  the  sexes  is  funda- 
mental and  spiritual,  cannot  doubt  the  propriety  of  in- 


36  THE  RESPECTIVE  DUTIES 

dicating  it  by  a  difference  in  dress.  They  may  even  say 
"  Amen  "  with  all  their  hearts  to  the  last  clause,  of  the 
text  in  its  most  literal  acceptation :  "  For  they  that  do 
so  "  (i.  e.  assume  the  garments  of  the  other  sex)  "  are 
abomination  unto  the  Lord  thy  God."  Yet  we  must 
not  suppose  that  the  lesson  taught  is  confined  within 
any  such  narrow  limits.  When  the  Lord  speaks  to  the 
men  of  all  time,  he  gives  them  not  merely  natural,  but 
spiritual,  instruction. 

So  do  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  plainly  teach. 
They  show  that  the  sacred  Scripture  is  divine  in  itself, 
and  has  an  infinitude  of  meaning.  Its  literal  sense  is 
but  its  least  and  lowest  part,  —  the  form  in  which  it  is, 
or  has  been,  accommodated  to  the  states  of  merely 
natural  men.  Within  the  letter  is  the  spirit,  —  not  a 
mere  vague  amplification  of  the  literal  meaning,  but  a 
new  and  higher  sense,  quite  distinct  from  that  of  the 
letter,  and  yet  making  one  with  it  by  correspondence. 
Or  rather  we  should  say,  there  is  a  series  of  such  senses 
reaching  from  Him  who  is  the  inmost  of  the  Word,  to 
men  who  in  this  world  are  in  the  outermost  plane  of  being. 

We  cannot  now  stop  to  discuss  the  general  doctrine 
of  the  spiritual  sense,  but  will  endeavor  to  find  an  illus- 
tration of  it  in  the  particular  subject  before  us. 

No  reader  of  the  Scriptures  can  fail  to  see  that  gar- 
ments are  repeatedly  spoken  of  in  some  other  than  their 
literal  sense.  How,  unless  spiritually,  can  we  under- 
stand what  is  said  of  the  man  who  had  not  on  a  wedding- 
garment,  and  was,  therefore,  bound  hand  and  foot,  and 


OF  MEN  AND  WOMEN.  37 

cast  into  outer  darkness  ?  What  is  meant  in  the  Apoc- 
alypse by  him  that  watcheth  and  keepeth  his  garments  ? 
Who  were  the  few  in  Sardis  that  had  not  denied  their 
garments,  and  were  to  walk  in  white  with  the  Lord  ? 
Somehow  or  other,  garments  in  these  passages  must  be 
expressive  of  the  state  or  character  of  those  who  are 
said  to  wear  them.  The  man  without  a  wedding-gar- 
ment could  have  been  excluded  only  because  his  garment 
was  in  some  way  an  index  of  himself.  The  state  of 
mind  in  which  he  was,  must  have  been  contrary  to  that 
which  belongs  to  the  heavenly  marriage.  In  like  man- 
ner, not  to  defile  one's  garments  must  be  to  keep  the 
life  pure  and  void  of  offence.  To  walk  with  the  Lord 
in  white  is  to  live  in  harmony  with  Him  ;  for  his  raiment, 
when  He  was  seen  in  his  glory,  was  "  shining,  exceeding 
white  as  snow ;  so  as  no  fuller  on  earth  can  white 
them." 

The  Lord's  garments  represent  divine  truths.  The 
light  wherewith  He  is  said  to  cover  Himself  as  with  a 
garment,  is  nothing  else ;  for  truth  is  to  the  eye  of  the 
mind  what  light  is  to  the  bodily  vision.  By  means  of 
truths  revealed  to  men,  the  Lord  makes  Himself  known 
to  them.  He  appears,  as  it  were,  clad  in  truth,  and 
thus  is  made  visible.  They  who  but  touch  the  hem  of 
his  garment  are  made  whole  of  whatsoever  disease  they 
have  ;  that  is  to  say,  if  we  apply  to  our  lives  the  simplest 
literal  precepts  of  divine  truth,  and  do  it  in  a  humble 
and  penitent  spirit,  we  come  into  communication  with 
the  Lord  himself,  and  receive  of  the  virtue  which  goes 


38  THE  RESPECTIVE  DUTIES 

out  of  Him ;  thus  being  delivered  from  the  evils  which 
threaten  our  spiritual  health  and  life. 

It  is  according  to  divine  order  that  men  also  —  that 
is,  their  minds  —  should  be  clothed  with  truths  as  with 
garments.  The  truths  of  the  Word  should  be,  as  it 
were,  the  vesture  they  put  on,  in  order  to  fulfil  their  ob- 
ligations to  the  Lord  and  their  fellow-men.  They  should 
not,  indeed,  assume  them  for  the  sake  of  pretence,  or  as 
a  mask  to  hide  their  inward  corruption.  But  their  effort 
should  be  to  make  them  the  very  form  and  expression 
of  their  life.  The  unwelcome  guest  at  the  wedding  was 
one  who  could  not  be  clad  in  the  beautiful  garments  of 
divine  truth,  because  the  love  of  truth  had  no  place  in 
his  heart.  Those  who  walk  with  the  Lord  in  white  are 
such  as  love  divine  truths,  and  are  covered  and  pro- 
tected by  them. 

Garments  are  said  to  correspond  specifically  to  truths, 
because  truth  is  the  natural  embodiment  or  clothing  of 
goodness.  If  you  examine  any  undoubted  truth  of 
religion,  you  will  see  that  such  is  the  case.  It  is  the 
utterance  or  expression  of  good  will.  It  has  for  its 
end,  and  produces  as  its  result,  the  benefit  and  happi- 
ness of  all  who  are  affected  by  it.  Truth  is  the  cloth- 
ing of  goodness,  in  just  the  same  way  that  thought  is 
the  clothing  of  affection.  There  would  be  no  truth, 
unless  goodness  felt  the  need  of  garments  wherewith  to 
make  itself  visible. 

But  in  a  more  general  sense,  garments  signify  any 
exterior  covering  of  something  relatively  interior.  Thus 


OF  MEN  AND    WOMKN.  39 

actions  are  the  garments  of  thoughts.  The  body  is  the 
garment  of  the  soul.  The  external  life  of  man  is  the 
garment  of  the  internal.  The  particular  signification  in 
any  case  will  depend  upon  the  subject  under  considera- 
tion, and  the  point  of  view  from  which  it  is  regarded. 
There  may  be  those  who  can  conceive  of  no  other  gar- 
ments than  the  vesture  of  the  natural  body.  Again, 
there  will  be  tho-e  who  can  discern  many  distinct  planes 
of  life,  one  within  the  other,  each  serving  as  a  garment 
to  all  that  is  interior  to  itself. 

In  this  world  are  to  be  found  all  kinds  of  hypocrisy. 
By  false  outward  appearances  men  conceal  in  various 
ways  their  genuine  feelings  and  thoughts.  They  deck 
themselves  out  in  borrowed  garments,  like  wolves  in 
sheep's  clothing.  But  in  the  world  to  come  we  know 
that  such  a  state  of  things  cannot  permanently  exist. 
There  the  saying  is  fulfilled,  "  There  is  nothing  covered, 
that  shall  not  be  revealed  ;  neither  hid,  that  shall  not  be 
known."  A  man  can  seem  to  be  outwardly  no  other 
than  he  really  is  inwardly.  The  ruling  affections  of  his 
soul  must  corre  forth,  and  make  themselves  visible  in 
his  external  actions  and  appearance.  The  objects  by 
which  he  is  surrounded  must  be  in  agreement  and  corre- 
spondence with  the  feelings  which  prevail  within  him. 
Hence  good  things  are  always  around  the  good,  and  evil 
things  around  the  evil.  Each  makes  for  himself  a  world, 
either  beautiful  or  unbeautiful,  which  corresponds  ex- 
actly with  his  inner  f-tate.  This  perfect  harmony  of  the 
interior  and  exterior  life  extends  even  to  the  garments 


40  THE  RESPECTIVE  DUTIES 

which  are  worn.  The  angels  who  were  seen  at  the 
Lord's  sepulchre  had  white  and  shining  garments.  The 
prodigal  son,  when  he  came  into  a  state  of  sincere  re- 
pentance for  his  evil  life,  is  said  to  have  been  clothed 
anew,  according  to  the  direction  of  his  father  :  "  Bring 
forth  the  best  robe,  and  put  it  on  him  ;  and  put  a  ring 
on  his  hand,  and  shoes  on  his  feet."  In  the  Apocalypse 
we  read  that  the  armies  in  heaven  which  followed  the 
Lord  were  clothed  iu  fine  linen,  white  and  clean. 
Similar  things  are  said  in  other  passages,  some  of  which 
have  been  already  referred  to.  So  we  cannot  doubt 
that  the  clothing  of  angels  and  devils  is  a  perfect  expres- 
sion of  their  interior  state  and  character.  Angels  are 
clothed  according  to  their  intelligence,  that  is,  according 
to  the  degree  of  divine  truth  that  is  in  them.  Evil 
spirits,  on  the  contrary,  must  be  clothed  in  unsightly 
garments,  according  to  the  degree  of  their  insanity,  or, 
what  is  the  same,  their  perversion  of  truth  and  good- 
ness. 

The  distinctive  garments  of  men  and  women  are, 
therefore,  representative  of  their  distinctive  characters 
and  states.  When  in  the  Jewish  law  they  ai'e  forbidden 
to  wear  one  another's  garments,  the  meaning  is  that 
they  can  never  become,  in  their  essential  spiritual 
nature,  identical ;  they  are  made  to  fill  different  places 
in  the  world,  and  to  perform  different  offices,  which  are 
not  interchangeable.  It  is  contrary  to  order  for  either 
of  them  to  trespass  on  the  province  of  the  other. 

The   duties  appropriate  to  either  sex  are,  of  course, 


OF  MEN  AND   WOMEN.  41 

those  which  give  occasion  for  the  exercise  of  their  dis- 
tinguishing characteristics.  And  inasmuch  as  mau  and 
woman  differ  in  general,  like  wisdom  and  its  love,  or 
like  thought  and  its  affection,  or  like  understanding  and 
its  will,  according  to  what  was  shown  in  a  previous  dis- 
course, so  the  masculine  functions  are  those  in  which  un- 
derstanding, thought,  and  wisdom  take  the  lead,  and  the 
feminine  functions  those  in  which  will,  affection,  and 
love  take  the  lead.  This  is  the  true  test  to  apply  to  all 
questions  which  may  arise  respecting  their  respective 
fields  of  action.  If  men  are  disposed  to  shrink  from  the 
labors  and  responsibilities  which  priority  of  intellect 
necessarily  impose*,  to  avoid  the  decision  of  hard  ques- 
tions and  contact  with  hard  men,  and  to  live  a  life  of 
domestic  ease  or  sentimental  leisure,  they  are  justly 
open  to  the  reproach  of  becoming  effeminate,  and  must 
expect  to  lose  the  respect  and  influence  which  they  would 
otherwise  possess.  If  women,  on  the  other  hand,  are 
ambitious  to  do  that  kind  of  work  which  calls  primarily 
for  the  exercise  of  the  reasoning  faculties — for  judgment 
and  intellectual  effort,  —  they  are  manifestly,  as  a  gen- 
eral rule,  trying  to  go  beyond  their  true  sphere,  and 
should  be  by  all  proper  means  discouraged  and  restrained. 
The  best  way  of  understanding  the  relative  position 
and  duties  of  man  and  woman  is  to  observe  them  in  the 
marriage  relation.  Whenever  two  persons  are  suitably 
married,  their  duties  define  themselves.  Whenever  the 
twain  are  made  one  flesh,  their  lives  flow  along  united, 
and  yet  distinct ;  all  the  more  closely  united,  indeed, 


42  THE  RESPECTIVE  DUTIES 

because  they  are  distinct.  They  do  not  trench  upon 
each  other's  province,  nor  wish  to  do  so.  There  is 
work  which  each  prefers  that  the  other  should  do  fur 
him,  and  is  happy  in  not  being  obliged  to  do  himself. 
The  wife,  as  was  previously  explained,  loves  to  be 
guided  by  the  clearer  intellect  of  her  husband,  and  to 
receive  the  protection  of  his  firmer  and  more  aggressive 
nature.  She  loves  to  feel  that  in  their  struggles  with 
the  outside  world,  he  is  strong  enough  for  them  both. 
She  loves,  as  it  were,  to  see  with  his  eyes,  and  to  think 
with  his  thoughts.  She  is  pained  when  she  feels  com- 
pelled to  differ  from  him.  If  only  he  is  such  a  man 
that  she  can  really  act  as  one  with  him  in  this  way,  her 
happiness  is  complete.  And  he,  on  his  side,  requires 
this  joyful  dependence  of  hers  to  draw  him  out  of  him- 
self, and  to  wean  him  from  the  pride  of  his  own  intel- 
ligence. Her  appreciative  and  affectionate  response  to 
everything  true  and  good  in  his  thoughts  and  actions, 
fills  out  the  measure  of  his  life.  Under  her  softening 
influence  he  becomes  refined  and  gentle,  yet  no  less 
manly  withal.  By  the  support  which  he  affords  to 
her,  he  is  himself  supported.  Her  confiding  dependence 
on  him  is  the  very  staff  on  which  he  leans. 

This  spiritual  relationship  between  husband  and  wife 
finds  abundant  expression  and  illustration  in  their  re- 
spective duties.  He  goes  out  into  the  world,  and  does 
the  work  which  needs  to  be  done  there,  while  she 
remains  at  home,  and  attends  to  duties  no  less  needful. 
He  performs  uses  (o  society,  and  shares  with  her  the 


OF  MEN  AND    WOMEN.  43 

fruit  of  his  labors.  He  regards  her  support  and  main- 
tenance the  same  as  his  own.  He  wishes  to  save  her 
from  all  worldly  anxieties  and  cares,  as  well  as  from  all 
harsh  winds  that  blow  across  the  ruffled  seas  of  human 
selfishness.  The  man  who  does  not  do  his  best  to  pro- 
vide for,  and  protect,  his  wife  and  family,  is  universally 
condemned  and  execrated.  No  thanks  are  due  him  for 
taking  care  of  them.  This  is  simply  his  duty,  his  office 
as  a  husband  and  father.  But  lie  is  rightly  blamed  and 
dishouored  for  neglecting  them. 

And  the  wife,  on  her  part,  fills  a  place  no  less  clearly 
defined.  The  home  circle  belongs  primarily  to  her.  It  is 
her  office  to  surround  it  with  pure  and  gentle  influences  ; 
to  make  it  bright,  cheerful  and  attractive,  —  a  genuine 
place  of  refuge  from  the  prevailing  weariness  and  un- 
rest. It  is  her  office  to  rear  up  the  children  which  are 
given  her,  and  thus  commence  the  work  which  has  for 
its  end  that  they  shall  become  good  men  and  women 
here,  and  angels  of  heaven  hereafter.  It  is  folly  to  say 
that  this  class  of  duties  is  less  important  than  the  other. 
They  are  equal  to  any  that  could  be  named ;  and  the 
highest  happiness  of  a  true  woman  is  experienced  in 
faithfully  discharging  them. 

There  is  nothing  forced  or  arbitrary  in  this  division 
of  labor.  It  is  a  natural  consequence  of  the  organic 
difference  between  men  and  women.  Something  like  it 
is  to  be  found  throughout  the  whole  animal  creation. 
Men  are  by  nature  larger,  stronger,  and  more  robust  hi 
mind  and  body.  Intellectual  and  physical  strength  is 


44  THE  RESPECTIVE  DUTIES 

theirs  in  greater  measure.  They  are  manifestly  adapted 
to  a  rougher  and  harder  service.  Theirs  is  the  field  of 
battle ;  theirs  the  public  turmoil  and  strife ;  theirs  the 
grappling  of  mind  with  mind  hi  hostile  or  friendly  com- 
bat. But  woman's  nature,  in  which  affection  leads, 
is  suited  to  other  things.  She  is  more  delicately  organ- 
ized, both  mentally  and  physically.  .  To  her,  by  the 
laws  of  creation,  is  allotted  the  care  of  children.  She 
must  bring  them  forth,  and  nourish  them.  She  must 
watch  over  them  by  day  and  night,  striving  to  keep 
them  from  every  harm.  No  one  will  do  this,  if  she 
does  not.  It  is  the  precise  work  which  calls  for  the 
exercise  of  her  peculiar  faculties, — a  work  in  which 
mere  intellectual  superiority  would  be  of  little  account. 
Home  is,  therefore,  by  the  manifest  conditions  of  her 
nature,  her  appointed  field  of  labor  ;  and  the  more  truly 
womanly  she  is,  the  better  she  loves  to  have  it  so.  If 
she  is  faithful  to  her  trust,  she  will  not  suffer  for  lack 
of  employment.  She  will  have  enough  to  occupy  heart 
and  hands.  She  will  not  look  out  with  envious  eyes  to 
other  spheres  of  action.  She  will  not  aspire  to  mili- 
tary glory,  or  political  distinction.  In  all  public  affairs 
she  is  content,  nay,  glad,  to  have  her  husband  act  for 
her.  His  arm,  his  voice,  his  vote,  shall  be  hers,  sus- 
tained by  all  the  strength  of  her  love  and  confidence. 
She  is  not  ashamed  to  spend  her  life  in  presiding  over 
a  happy  and  virtuous  household,  and  is  willing  to  have 
her  children  named  as  the  crown  and  glory  of  her 
womanhood. 


OF  MEN  AND  WOMEN.  45 

It  is  right  to  set  before  the  mind's  eye  a  true  pic- 
ture of  marriage  union  and  happiness,  because  it  is  the 
only  way  of  showing  what  man  and  woman  were  de- 
signed to  be  to  each  other,  and  what  are  their  respect- 
ive positions  and  duties.  The  best  education  which 
either  sex,  as  such,  can  receive,  is  that  which  prepares 
it  to  sustain  the  highest  relation  to  the  other.  Not 
by  attempting  to  obliterate  the  distinctions  between 
them,  but  by  keeping  these  ever  in  view,  and  giving 
them  the  most  complete  development,  must  we  perforce 
believe  that  the  divine  purpose  with  respect  to  the 
two  great  divisions  of  mankind  will  be  most  perfectly 
accomplished.  "  The  woman  shall  not  wear  that  which 
pertaineth  unto  a  man,  neither,  shall  a  man  put  on  a 
woman's  garment:  for  all  that  do  so  are  abomination 
unto  the  Lord  thy  God." 

It  is  true  that  in  the  present  state  of  the  world  many 
difficulties  beset  those  who  desire  the  establishment  of 
heavenly  principles.  To  a  large  number  of  people  mar- 
riage in  this  life  is  denied ;  and,  what  is  far  worse,  to  a 
large  number  it  comes  fixed  on  a  false  basis,  and  brings 
no  genuine  happiness.  Thus  many  of  both  sexes,  but 
especially  women,  are  forced  into  unnatural  positions ; 
and  they  often  meet  with  harsh  and  unjust  treatment. 
The  duty  of  helping  them  to  do  such  work  as  they  are 
best  fitted  for,  and  of  giving  them  a  fair  compensation 
for  their  labor,  cannot  be  doubted  by  any  considerate 
and  reasonable  person.  Yet  it  should  be  none  the 
less  carefully  remembered  that  there  are  vocations  and 


46  THE  RESPECTIVE  DUTIES 

functions  to  which  they  are  not  generally  adapted,  — 
those  in  which,  as  we  have  seen,  "  thought,  wisdom,  and 
understanding  take  the  lead.*'  Their  condition  will 
never  be  improved  by  imposing  on  them  obligations 
and  responsibilities  for  which  they  are  naturally  dis- 
qualified, even  though  this  be  done  for  the  avowed  pur- 
pose of  redressing  their  wrongs. 

Doubtless  there  are  some  women  who  have  a  stronger 
and  clearer  intellect  than  some  men  ;  and  there  are 
some  men  who  are  more  under  the  influence  of  their 
affections  and  feelings  than  some  women.  But  these 
exceptions  prove  nothing ;  and  in  any  general  state- 
ment of  principles  are  unworthy  to  be  taken  into  ac- 
count. The  vital  questions  to  be  considered  are  —  What 
makes  a  man  most  truly  manly  ?  What  makes  a  woman 
most  truly  womanly  ?  and  then  to  cultivate  in  each  his 
own  best  characteristics. 

It  is  not  meant  to  be  implied  that  women  should  be 
less  carefully  or  thoroughly  educated  than  men.  In 
order  that  the  two  may  be  suitable  companions  for  each 
other,  they  must  stand  on  the  same  general  level  of 
intelligence.  Any  great  disparity  between  them,  as 
regards  knowledge  and  culture,  must  always  be  a  draw- 
back to  their  happiness.  But  the  education  of  the  one 
sex  should  differ  from  that  of  the  other  just  as  their 
essential  natures  and  their  duties  in  life  differ. 

A  few  words  more  on  a  single  point.  We  know 
that  the  care  of  Divine  Providence  is  extended  over 
all  the  events  of  our  lives.  In  whatever  position  we 


OF  MEN  AND   WOMEN.  47 

;ire  placed  through  circumstances  beyond  our  control  — 
however  undesirable  it  may  seem  in  itself,  — we  know 
that  it  is  exactly  what  we  need,  and  was  mercifully 
intended  for  our  highest  good.  Even  though  one's 
hopes  with  respect  to  marriage  be  disappointed,  and 
his  situation  be  not  that  which  he  would  naturally 
prefer,  an  abiding  trust  in  his  Heavenly  Father  will  fill 
him  with  the  assurance  that  he  is  led  in  the  way  which 
is  most  conducive  to  his  spiritual  welfare.  He  will 
know  that  his  happiness  depends  on  cheerfully  accepting 
his  position,  and  trying  to  do  his  duty  in  it. 


IV. 
HEAVENLY  MARRIAGE. 

"  And  Jesus  answering,  said  unto  them,  The  children  of  this  world 
mam-,  and  are  given  in  marriage.  But  they  which  shall  be  accounted 
worthy  to  obtain  that  world,  and  the  resurrection  from  the  dead, 
neither  marry,  nor  are  given  in  marriage.  Xeither  can  they  die  any 
more  :  for  they  are  equal  unto  the  angels  ;  and  are  the  children  of  God, 
being  the  children  of  the  resurrection."  — LUKE  xx.  34,  35,  36. 

HPHE  Lord,  in  these  words,  is  replying  to  a  question 
•*-  of  the  Sadducees.  The  latter  were  a  Jewish  sect, 
corresponding  to  the  skeptics  and  rationalists  of  the 
present  day.  They  denied  that  there  is  any  resurrec- 
tion, and  came  to  Jesus,  propounding  what  they  supposed 
wa<  an  unanswerable  question  on  this  subject  Full  of 
the  spirit  of  contempt  and  ridicule,  they  brought  forward 
the  case  of  seven  brethren  marrying  in  succession  the 
same  wife,  and  dying  childless ;  and  asked  triumphantly, 
"  Therefore  in  the  resurrection  whose  wife  of  them  is 
she  ?  for  seven  had  her  to  wife  ?  "  This  is  the  question 
to  which  our  text  is  the  answer. 

The  example  cited  by  the  Sadducees  did  not  sound  so 
strangely  to  those  who  heard  it,  as  it  would  to  men  at 
the  present  time.  He  who  married  the  childless  widow 
of  his  brother,  simply  acted  in  obedience  to  a  positive 
command  of  the  Israelitish  law.  The  first  child  of  such 


HEAVE  SLY  MARRIAGE.  49 

a  union  was  considered  as  belonging  to  the  deceased 
brother,  and  saved  him  from  the  reproach  of  having  his 
name  "  put  out  of  Israel."  If  any  man  should  refuse  to 
take  his  brother's  wife,  he  was  to  be  publicly  disgraced. 
In  case  of  refusal  (so  it  is  written),  "  shall  his  brother's 
wife  come  unto  him  in  the  presence  of  the  elders,  and 
loose  his  shoe  from  off  his  foot,  and  spit  in  his  face,  and 
shall  answer  and  say,  So  shall  it  be  done  unto  that 
man  that  will  not  build  up  his  brother's  house.  And 
his  name  shall  be  called  in  Israel,  The  house  of  him 
that  hath  his  shoe  loosed "  (Deut  xxr.  9).  The  fact 
that  the  six  brethren  did  only  their  prescribed  duty  hi 
marrying  the  wife  of  their  brother,  makes  the  inquiry 
of  the  Sadducees  far  more  pointed  than  it  would  other- 
wise have  been.  For  the  very  reason  that  they  strictly 
obeyed  the  law  of  Moses,  they  would  find  themselves 
having  but  one  wife  to  the  seven,  when  they  should 
leave  this  world.  We  can  imagine  the  sneering  tone  of 
voice,  the  exultant  glances  quickly  exchanged,  and  the 
derisive  smiles  passing  from  face  to  face,  as  the  divine 
law  itself  was  thus  made  apparently  to  refute  the  doc- 
trine of  the  resurrection.  The  Lord's  reply,  unexpected 
as  it  evidently  was,  silenced  the  unbelievers,  if  it  did  not 
convince  them. 

It  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  the  state  of  the  Jews, 
and  their  ideas  of  the  marriage  relation,  in  order  to  un- 
derstand the  question  and  its  answer.  The  particular 
law  to  which  the  Sadducees  alluded,  reveals  a  condition 
of  affairs  which  is  almost  incomprehensible  to  us.  TTe 


50  HEAVENLY  MARRIAGE. 

hardly  know  how  to  think  of  a  nation  which  needed 
such  regulations.  These  were,  of  course,  a  reflection  of 
the  minds  of  the  people.  The  Lord  took  the  Jews  as  lie 
found  them,  and  gave  the  divine  sanction  to  such  laws 
as  they  were  capable  of  obeying.  Their  views  were  all 
of  a  natural  and  external  kind.  It  was  hard  for  them 
to  lift  their  thoughts  above  the  senses.  In  spite  of  all 
that  the  Lord  did  for  them,  and  the  repeated  wonders 
which  He  showed  them,  they  continually  fell  away  to  the 
worship  of  false  gods.  Even  while  He  was  in  the  very 
net  of  delivering  the  commandments  on  Sinai,  they  made 
d  golden  calf,  and  bowed  down  before  it.  The  Lord 
had  divided  the  Red  Sea  for  them ;  He  had  sweetened 
the  bitter  waters  of  Marah  ;  He  was  daily  feeding  them 
with  bread  from  heaven  ;  but  they  could  not  have  faith 
in  Him  forty  days,  till  Moses  came  down  from  the  moun- 
tain. This  is  but  one  instance  of  events  such  as  are 
constantly  occurring  in  their  history.  They  were  rightly 
termed  a  stiff-necked  and  rebellious  people.  How,  then, 
could  the  Lord  have  dealings  with  them,  except  by 
accommodating  Himself  to  their  condition  ?  How  could 
He  establish  even  the  semblance  of  a  church  among 
them,  except  by  admitting  on  sufferance  many  usages 
which  will  not  bear  the  light  of  higher  truth  than  theirs? 
What  laws  could  He  give  them,  with  any  possibility  of 
their  understanding  and  obeying  them,  except  those 
which  should  reach  down  to  the  low  plane  of  life  and 
thought  whereon  they  stood  ?  On  no  other  basis  than 
this  can  the  various  rites,  ceremonials,  and  statutes  of  the 


HEAVENLY  MARRIAGE.  51 

Jews  be  reconciled  with  a  belief  in  Providence,  and  in 
the  divine  character  of  the  Scriptures.  Worship  by 
means  of  sacrifices,  for  example,  is  a  rude  and  barbarous 
kind  of  worship.  But  it  was  the  best  of  which  the  Jews 
were  capable.  Accordingly,  it  was  allowed  under  certain 
definite  restrictions.  But  this  very  worship,  gross  and 
external  as  it  was,  represented  that  which  is  internal 
and  genuine.  And  not  only  the  worship;  the  whole  law 
of  Moses  is  representative  ;  and  spiritually  regarded  and 
interpreted,  is  seen  to  contain  the  principles  and  precepts 
of  life  everlasting.  And  not  only  the  law,  but  the  entire 
Word,  is  written  by  correspondences,  and  is  in  its  lit- 
eral sense  as  a  casket,  which  holds  priceless  jewels. 

The  laws  of  the  Jews  respecting  marriage  are  there- 
fore to  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  divine  permissions. 
Like  mankind  generally  at  that  period,  the  children  of 
Israel  were  away  down  amid  the  things  of  sense.  They 
had  not  the  slightest  conception  of  spiritual  marriage, 
any  more  than  of  spiritual  worship.  In  their  sight 
polygamy  was  no  sin.  On  the  contrary  it  was  practiced 
by  the  most  venerated  among  them.  They  saw  in  the 
relations  of  man  and  woman  little  more  than  the  merely 
animal  function  of  propagating  the  species.  Almost  the 
greatest  calamity  which  could  befall  any  one  was  to  die 
without  children.  Their  state  of  mind  is  everywhere 
betrayed  by  the  letter  of  the  Old  Testament.  Customs 
were  therefore  tolerated  among  them,  which  would  be 
inadmissible  in  civilized  communities  at  the  present  day. 
The  infinite  Father  of  all,  hi  the  fulness  of  his  goodness 


52  HEAVENLY  MARRIAGE. 

and  wisdom,  suffered  them  to  do  many  things,  solely  011 
account  of  the  hardness  of  their  hearts. 

In  the  matter  of  divorce,  for  instance,  they  were  left 
in  very  great  freedom.  Their  laws  on  this  subject  are 
referred  to  in  a  conversation  which  took  place  between 
our  Lord  and  the  Pharisees,  when  He  was  in  the  world. 
"  The  Pharisees  also  came  unto  Him,  tempting  Him, 
and  saying  unto  Him,  Is  it  lawful  for  a  man  to  put 
away  his  wife  for  every  cause  ?  And  He  answered  and 
said  unto  them,  Have  ye  not  read,  that  He  which  made 
them  at  the  beginning,  made  them  male  and  female, 
And  said,  For  this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  father  and 
mother,  and  shall  cleave  to  his  wife :  and  they  twain 
shall  be  one  flesh  ?  Wherefore  they  are  no  more  twain, 
but  one  flesh.  What  therefore  God  hath  joined  to- 
gether, let  not  man  put  asunder.  They  say  unto  Him, 
Why  did  Moses  then  command  to  give  a  writing  of 
divorcement,  and  to  put  her  away  ?  "  (Matt.  xix.  3-7.) 
The  Lord  had  presented  an  ideal  of  marriage,  which 
seemed  to  contradict  the  Law  of  Moses.  If  husband  and 
wife  were  to  cleave  to  one  another,  so  as  to  be  one  flesh, 
—  if  God  was  to  join  them  together,  so  that  not  without 
impiety  could  man  put  them  asunder,  —  then  indeed  it 
was  not  strange  that  the  Pharisees  should  ask  why  Moses 
commanded  to  give  a  writing  of  divorcement,  and  to  put 
her  away.  Why,  in  other  words,  did  Moses  command 
men  to  do  that  which  Jesus  now  said  that  they  ought  not 
to  do  ?  Or  conversely,  why  did  Jesus  condemn  by  im- 
plication what  Moses  had  commanded  ?  The  answer 


HEAVENLY  MARRIAGE.  53 

which  the  Lord  gives  is  so  clear  and  explicit  that  it  can- 
not possibly  be  mistaken.  "  Moses,  because  of  the  hard- 
ness of  your  hearts,  suffered  you  to  put  away  your  wives : 
but  from  the  beginning  it  was  not  so  "  (Matt.  xix.  8). 

Because  of  the  hardness  of  your  hearts.  This  tells  the 
whole  story.  That  which  appeared  like  a  divine  com- 
mand, and  therefore  like  a  law  perfect  iu  itself,  and  never 
to  be  improved  upon,  was,  after  all,  only  a  divine  per- 
mission, which  the  low  moral  condition  of  the  Jewish 
Church  had  rendered  necessary.  In  its  spiritual  sense 
it  contains  truth  which  will  be  serviceable  for  the  guid- 
ance of  men  in  all  ages.  But  in  its  literal  sense,  it  could 
not  continue  after  the  Lord's  coming.  It  could  not 
abide  the  brightness  of  the  light  which  He  brought  into 
the  world.  The  need  of  any  such  literal  precept  passed 
away  with  the  Church  or  Dispensation  to  which  it  had 
been  given.  Instead  of  it,  the  Lord  says,  "  Whosoever 
shall  put  away  his  wife,  except  for  fornication,  and  shall 
marry  another,  committeth  adultery  :  and  whoso  mar- 
rieth  her  that  is  put  away,  doth  commit  adultery " 
(Matt.  xix.  9).  After  these  words  had  been  uttered,  they 
became  the  law  of  divorce  for  the  Christian  Church. 
But  it  was  not  easy  for  the  first  Christians  to  receive 
this  law.  To  them  it  seemed  severe  and  oppressive. 
Under  the  restrictions  which  it  imposed  they  thought 
that  marriage  itself  would  become  undesirable.  Ac- 
cordingly his  disciples  said  when  they  heard  it,  "  If  the 
case  of  the  man  be  so  with  his  wife,  it  is  not  good  to 
marry"  (Matt.  xix.  10). 


54  HEAVENLY  MARRIAGE. 

All  these  things  will  serve  to  show  the  state  in  which 
the  Jews  were  with  respect  to  the  marriage  relation. 
They  will  show  what  kind  of  an  idea  was  in  their 
minds,  when  they  spoke  of  marrying  and  giving  in  mar- 
riage. That  nothing  of  the  sort  could  exist  in  heaven,  is 
beyond  all  question.  If  by  marriages  we  are  to  under- 
stand connections  like  those  which  the  Sadducees  re- 
ferred to,  —  connections  permitted  solely  on  account  of 
the  hardness  of  the  Jewish  heart,  —  then  indeed  they 
are  not  to  be  thought  of  at  the  same  time  with  the  pure 
life  of  heaven.  There  is  nothing  heavenly  about  them. 
Their  savor  is  wholly  that  of  earth.  But  if,  on  the 
other  hand,  we  infer  from  the  Lord's  reply  that  there  is 
no  mental  or  spiritual  distinction  between  man  and 
woman,  which  will  outlast  the  period  of  this  natural  life, 
we  carry  our  generalizations  too  far.  If  we  infer  that 
the  very  idea  of  sex  is  to  be  blotted  out,  and  all  the 
sweet  and  tender  relations  which  spring  from  it  are  to 
come  to  an  end,  we  draw  conclusions  which  the  words 
themselves  do  not  warrant,  and  which  are  at  variance 
with  the  best  feelings  of  our  nature. 

On  former  occasions,  I  have  endeavored  to  show  from 
the  Scriptures  that  the  distinction  indicated  by  the 
words  male  and  female  is  a  radical  and  fundamental 
one,  extending  not  only  outwardly  through  the  created 
universe,  but  inwardly  to  the  very  depths  of  the  soul, 
—  that  throughout  their  entire  being  a  man  is  a  man, 
and  a  woman  a  woman,  —  that  the  two  are  comple- 
mental  to  each  other,  equal  parts  of  the  great  whole, 


HEAVENLY  MARRIAGE.  66 

which  is  known  by  the  name  of  Man,  and  which  is 
made  for  the  purpose  of  becoming  an  image  and  like- 
ness of  God ;  that  marriage  was  designed  to  be  a 
spiritual  union,  —  a  blending  of  two  souls  and  two  lives 
in  one,  —  the  growing  together  of  two  individual  men 
into  a  more  full  and  perfect  man  ;  and  finally  that  a 
union  of  this  sort,  though  it  has  been  virtually  unknown 
in  past  ages,  and  is  at  the  present  day  most  rare,  is  yet 
possible  even  iu  this  world,  and  is  most  earnestly  to  be 
desired  and  prayed  for  by  those  who  have  respect  for 
the  marriage  relation.  The  reasons  which  led  to  these 
conclusions  cannot  be  repeated  now.  Our  present  pur- 
pose is  to  consider  whether  the  Lord,  when  He  said  that 
in  the  resurrection  they  neither  marry  nor  are  given  in 
marriage,  could  have  intended  to  teach  that  there  are 
no  men  and  women  in  heaven,  and  no  relations  there 
existing  closer  than  that  of  friendship. 

In  the  New  Church  we  believe  fully  that  such  was 
not  the  meaning  of  his  instruction.  Only  by  inference 
is  this  interpretation  put  upon  his  words.  In  an  earthly, 
and  particularly  in  a  Jewish  sense,  there  can  be  no 
ir.arrying  or  giving  in  marriage ;  but  that  the  pure  and 
unselfish  love  which  knits  two  souls  together,  and  makes 
of  them  one  soul,  is  hereafter  to  lose  its  distinctive 
character,  and  to  be  remembered  only  among  the  things 
that  were,  is  a  doctrine  which  cannot  be  easily  received 
by  those  who  have  any  conception  of  the  real  nature  of 
that  love.  All  the  highest  instincts  of  our  hearts  cry 
out  against  it.  Such  could  not  have  been  I  he  plan  of 


56  HEAVENLY  MARRIAGE. 

the  Creator,  when  in  the  beginning  He  made  them  male 
and  female.  If,  indeed,  it  is  ever  true  that  God  joins 
them  together,  He  cannot,  after  a  few  brief  years  of 
earthly  existence,  put  them  eternally  asunder.  Their 
life  of  mutual  confidence  and  dependence  can  surely 
have  no  such  termination  as  this. 

Let  us  only  elevate  our  thoughts  above  the  world 
and  the  flesh,  and  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in  under- 
standing the  subject.  We  shall  then  see  that  all  love 
is  from  the  Lord  ;  for  He  is  love  or  goodness  itself.  In 
its  essence  and  origin  it  is  perfectly  unselfish.  It  seeks 
only  the  benefit  and  happiness  of  those  on  whom  it  is 
bestowed.  From  the  Lord  it  flows  down  into  the 
hearts  of  men,  and  is  received  in  its  purity,  or  changed 
and  perverted,  according  to  the  states  in  which  they 
are.  One  form  of  this  love  is  that  which  exists  be- 
tween man  and  woman.  How  terribly  it  can  be  per- 
verted, how  utterly  gross  and  sensual  it  may  become,  is 
but  too  apparent  to  any  one  who  observes  the  condition 
of  the  world  around  him,  and  the  natural  tendencies  of 
his  own  heart.  But  that  it  may  be  pure  and  good,  is 
equally  evident.  That  it  may  rise  high  above  the  body 
and  its  senses,  and  be  in  its  essence  a  deep  and  true 
affection  for  one  of  the  other  sex,  who,  in  the  lawful 
relation  of  husband  or  wife,  is  the  dearest  of  all  human 
friends,  is  a  truth  inscribed  on  the  inmost  tablets  of  the 
soul.  This  love  is  spiritual,  not  natural,  —  heavenly, 
not  earthly.  It  is  one  of  the  most  precious  of  the 
divine  gifts,  —  one  of  the  surest  means  which  the  Lord 


HEAVENLY  MARRIAGE.  ^          57 

has  provided  for  the  happiness  of  human  beings.  It 
looks  upward,  not  downward.  Its  first  thoughts  are 
of  those  things  which  relate  to  everlasting  life,  not  of 
those  which  pertain  to  this  world  and  its  comforts  and 
enjoyments.  Yet  is  there  no  good  thing  on  any  plane 
of  life,  which  it  disdains  to  communicate  or  to  share. 

On  this  love  is  inscribed  the  certain  assurance  of  its 
immortality.  Why,  indeed,  should  we  imagine  that 
any  genuine  love  which  we  feel  for  another  ever  passes 
from  us  ?  Love  is  the  only  spiritual  bond  between  num 
and  man.  It  is  the  only  cause  of  true  interior  near- 
ness. If,  when  we  leave  this  world,  we  continue  to  be 
ourselves,  we  must  have  the  same  loves,  the  same 
thoughts,  the  same  aspirations,  as  before.  Only  on  the 
supposition  that  we  are  radically  changed,  and  lose  our 
present  nature,  if  not  our  identity,  can  any  contrary 
opinion  be  maintained. 

The  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  are  very  clear  and 
explicit  on  this  point.  They  teach  that  the  other  life 
is  a  direct  continuation  of  this.  Death  is  but  the  lay- 
ing off  of  the  natural  body.  Man  is  interiorly  and  es- 
sentially a  spiritual  being.  Even  while  he  lives  in  this 
world,  he  lives  also  in  the  other.  He  is  surrounded  by 
spiritual  companions.  Angels  have  charge  over  him, 
and  devils  draw  near  and  tempt  him,  as  the  Scriptures 
teach.  He  does  not  see  them  face  to  face,  as  he  sees 
his  earthly  friends  and  neighbors.  He  is  not  even  con- 
scious of  their  presence.  The  influence  which  they  exert 
comes  forth  by  an  internal  and  unseen  way.  Yet  it  is 


58         H  HEAVENLY  MARRIAGE. 

none  the  less  real  and  essential.  When  he  die*,  he 
does  not  take  a  long  journey,  or  pass  into  a  long  sleep. 
He  simply  closes  his  natural  eyes,  and  opens  his  spirit- 
ual eyes.  He  lays  aside  his  natural  body,  only  to  as- 
sume, in  full  consciousness,  his  spiritual  body.  He  finds 
himself  in  a  real  and  substantial  world,  full  of  visible 
and  tangible  forms,  like  those  with  which  he  has  been 
familiar  on  earth,  except  that  they  are  spiritual,  and  not 
material. 

He  is  precisely  the  same  being  as  before.  In  no 
respect  is  he  changed,  except  in  casting  off  his  garments 
of  flesh.  Whatever  goes  to  make  up  the  man,  —  his 
life  and  character,  —  everything  by  which  he  is  distin- 
guished from  other  men, —  remains  as  it  was.  Hence 
he  can  be  recognized  by  all  who  ever  knew  him  in  the 
world,  and  he  is  able  to  recognize  them.  The  man  is 
still  a  man,  and  the  woman  still  a  woman.  None  of 
the  distinctive  characteristics  of  either  are  ever  lost. 
Male  and  female  created  He  them ;  and  male  and  fe- 
male they  continue  forever. 

Light  is  thrown  on  this  question  by  the  verses  imme- 
diately following  our  text.  '•  Now  that  the  dead  are 
raised,  even  Moses  showed  at  the  bush,  when  he  called 
the  Lord  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  ami 
the  God  of  Jacob.  For  He  is  not  a  God  of  the  dead, 
but  of  the  living:  for  to  Him  all  are  living."  The 
dead  are  raised.  Those  who  die  live  again.  All  are 
living  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord.  There  are  no  dend 
ones  among  them.  When  Moses  called  the  Lord  the 


HEAVENLY  MARRIAGE.  59 

God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of 
Jacob,  he  called  Him  the  God  of  living  men.  Abra- 
ham is  Abraham  still.  Isaac  and  Jacob  are  not  trans- 
formed into  other  persons.  So  is  it  with  every  man 
and  woman  who  .  has  at  any  time  dwelt  on  the  earth. 
He  wlio  is  the  God  of  Abraham  is  the  God  of  Samh 
too.  Remembering  Isaac  and  Jacob,  He  does  not 
forget  Rebekah  and  Rachel.  To  Him  all  are  living. 

It  is  not  affirmed  that  those  who  have  lived  as  mar- 
ried partners  here  below,  are  of  necessity  to  continue 
in  the  same  relation  when  they  go  hence.  But  it  is 
affirmed  that  no  part  of  them  except  their  material 
boilies  will  ever  die,  —  that  they  will  have  the  same 
thoughts,  feelings,  and  desires  in  that  world  as  in  this. 
—  that  all  the  qualities  of  mind  and  person  which  make 
a  man  most  truly  manly,  and  all  those  which  make  a 
woman  most  truly  womanly,  will  remain,  and  in  heaven 
will  be  more  and  more  fully  perfected  to  eternity,  — 
and  that  the  capacity  will  also  remain  of  being  greatly 
benefited  and  of  having  the  life  rounded  and  com- 
pleted by  union  with  her  or  him  of  the  other  ?ex 
to  whom  one  is  most  exactly  adapted.  Heavenly  part- 
ners may  or  may  not  be  the  same  as  earthly  ones.  In 
the  resurrection  it  is  spiritual  nearness,  or  community 
of  affection  and  thought,  which  determines  all  human 
relationships.  Wholly  inapplicable  to  such  a  state  of 
life  are  the  terms  ''  marrying  "  and  "  giving  in  marriage," 
as  they  are  commonly  understood,  and  especially  as 
they  were  understood  by  those  who  interrogated  the 


60  HEAVENLY  MARRIAGE. 

Lord.  By  marrying  is  generally  meant  little  more 
than  the  act  or  ceremony  by  which  the  agreement  of 
a  man  and  woman  to  live  together  as  husband  and 
wife  is  consummated  and  legalized.  By  giving  in  mar- 
riage, which  ordinarily  refers  only  to  the  woman,  is 
meant  the  bestowal  of  her  by  her  parents  on  some 
suitor  whom  they  select  or  approve.  In  old  times 
always,  and  in  our  own  time  not  seldom,  the  woman 
herself  has  had  little  or  nothing  to  say  about  it.  Her 
father  was  expected  to  dispose  of  her  as  he  pleased. 
For  reasons  of  family,  reasons  of  property,  and  worldly 
reasons  of  every  kind,  men  and  women  are  daily  going 
through  the  forms  of  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage. 
When  a  betrothal  takes  place,  it  is  by  no  means  neces- 
sarily assumed  that  the  parties  to  it  have  found  any  inte- 
rior or  spiritual  ground  of  sympathy,  or  hardly  that  they 
have  any  peculiar  affection  for  each  other.  They  have 
agreed  to  be  married,  —  that  is,  to  be  one  another's 
companions  for  the  remainder  of  this  life.  The  natural 
thought  ascends  no  higher  than  this.  Hence  it  is  truly 
said,  "  They  which  shall  be  accounted  worthy  to  obtain 
that  world,  and  the  resurrection  from  the  dead,  neither 
marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage."  But  it  is  not  said 
that  all  pure  love  between  man  and  woman,  whereby 
two  souls  and  two  lives  may  be  blended  into  one,  is 
utterly  extinguished,  or  ceases  to  be  one  of  the  noblest 
springs  of  human  action,  as  well  as  one  of  the  highest 
sentiments  of  human  nature.  It  is  not  said  that  what 
God  joins  together,  He  makes  haste,  as  soon  as  death 
comes,  to  put  asunder. 


HEAVENLY  MARRIAGE.  61 

As  conjugial  unions  in  heaven  are  entirely  spiritual 
in  their  character,  so  are  they  in  their  objects  and  re- 
sults. It  is  their  inevitable  tendency  and  effect  to  draw 
men  nearer  to  the  Lord,  and  to  make  them  more  truly 
receptive  of  his  influence.  Because  husband  and  wife 
receive  in  different  ways,  they  receive  for  each  other. 
Each  is  the  gainer  by  that  which  conies  to  him  from  tl.e 
other.  They  are,  as  Swedenborg  says,  like  heart  and 
lungs  in  the  same  breast ;  and  by  their  separate  offices 
and  united  life,  their  cup  of  happiness  is  made  full; 
they  continue  growing  belter  and  wiser  forever.  From 
their  intimate  connection  with  each  other,  new  good  and 
new  truth  are  continually  born;  fresh  thoughts  and 
feelings  are  constantly  springing  up  with  ever  increasing 
delight ;  and  these,  with  the  love  and  kindness  which 
jointly  they  shower  on  all  around  them,  are  the  sole 
fruit  of  their  union. 

They  '•  neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage.  Nei- 
ther can  they  die  any  more ;  for  they  are  equal  unto  the 
angels,  and  are  the  children  of  God,  being  the  children 
of  the  resurrection."  Another  of  the  Gospels  expresses 
the  same  idea  more  briefly.  "  In  the  resurrection  tht-y 
neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage,  but  are  as  the 
angels  of  God  in  heaven."  How  is  it,  then,  with  the 
angels  ?  The  word  "  angel  "  literally  means  messenger, 
one  who  is  sent,  one  who  does  the  Lord's  bidding. 
John  the  Baptist  is  several  times  called  the  angel  of  the 
Lord,  who  was  sent  to  prepare  the  way  before  Him  ;  al- 
though in  these  passages  the  word  is  translated  "  mes- 


HEAVENLY  MARRIAGE. 


senger."  All  are  angels  of  the  Lord  in  the  most  gen- 
eral sense,  who  are  his  messengers  or  agents  in  doing 
good  and  conferring  happiness.  None  are  angels,  un- 
less they  are  engaged  in  this  work.  This  is  the  office 
of  the  angels  of  heaven,  —  to  do  good,  —  to  act  out 
forever  and  ever  the  principles  of  love  to  the  Lord  and 
love  to  the  neighbor.  And  our  doctrines  teach  us  that 
they  were  all  once  men  and  women  on  some  material 
earth.  Man  is  the  crowning  work  of  creation.  There 
can  be  no  form  of  life  higher  than  that  which  is  termed 
the  image  and  likeness  of  God.  None  can  be  so  truly 
and  perfectly  his  angels  as  human  beings  who  have 
learned  to  love  and  serve  Him. 

To  be  equal  to  the  angels,  therefore,  is  to  be  equal  to 
our  brothers  and  sisters  who  have  gone  before,  and  who 
are  in  heaven.  Leaving  their  earthly  bodies  behind 
them,  they  have  passed  on  to  their  eternal  homes,  being 
in  all  essential  particulars  the  same  as  they  were  here. 
They  have  not  overstepped  the  bounds  of  human  exist- 
ence ;  they  have  entered  into  the  life  which  is  most 
truly  human,  where  all  that  is  beautiful  and  excellent  in 
their  character  has  the  best  possible  opportunity  for  de- 
velopment and  growth.  There  they  are,  the  same  men 
and  the  same  women  who  have  lived  on  earth.  But 
now  we  call  them  angels.  They  are  angel  men  and 
women.  And  we,  if  we  follow  in  their  footsteps,  shall 
become  "  equal  unto  "  them. 

John  tells,  in  the  Apocalypse,  how  on  more  than  one 
occasion  he  fell  down  to  worship  at  the  feet  of  an  nngel. 


HE  A  VENL  Y  MARRIA  GE. 


But  he  was  forbidden  to  do  so  by  the  angel  himself. 
"  See  thou  do  it  not,"  are  his  words  ;  "  for  I  am  thy  fel- 
low-servant, and  of  thy  brethren  the  prophet?,  and  of 
them  which  keep  the  sayings  of  this  book :  worship 
God."  This  declaration  is  very  significant.  It  reveals 
much  in  few  words.  The  angels  are  not  a  separate  and 
superior  race  of  beings.  They  are  the  fellow-servants 
and  brethren  of  men.  They  are  not  in  themselves  in- 
fallible and  perfect.  They  "  keep  the  sayings  of  this 
book."  They  are  guided  by  the  "Word  of  God. 

Time  was  when  they  had  to  keep  the  command- 
ments by  shunning  as  sins  the  evils  they  forbid.  That 
time  is  past  now.  They  have  come  out  of  those  evils 
and  the  desire  to  commit  them.  They  keep  the  com- 
mandments by  doing  the  good  things  to  which  the  evils 
are  opposed ;  for  these  things  they  love  and  cherish. 
There  is  good  which  stands  opposed  to  every  evil  ;  and 
when  the  evil  is  shunned,  and  thus  removed  from  the 
mind,  the  good  comes  in,  and  takes  the  place  of  it.  Pure 
and  heavenly  delights  take  the  place  of  lustful  and  in- 
fernal pleasures.  The  tendency  to  kill  or  hate  others  is 
succeeded  by  the  tender  love  for  them.  ^Vhen  the  de- 
sire to  steal  or  defraud  is  put  away,  sincerity  of  thought 
and  purpose  comes  instead.  So  with  all  oilier  evils. 
The  opposite  good  affections,  with  their  attendant  joys, 
nil  the  hearts  of  tho^e  who,  with  the  Lord's  help,  have 
fought  against  and  overcome  them.  Not  the  least  of 
these  good  affections  is  conjugial  love,  —  the  love,  chaste 
and  innocent  beyond  the  power  of  language  to  express, 


6  t  HE  A  VENL  Y  MARRIA  GE. 

which  finds  a  home  in  the  mind,  when  man,  in  will  and 
thought,  as  well  as  in  outward  act,  pays  heed  to  the 
divine  command,  "  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery." 
Who  shall  say  that  this  love  cannot  exist  in  heaven,  and 
that  it  shall  perish  from  the  hearts  of  those  who  become 
equal  to  the  angels  ? 

It  is  one  of  the  most  precious  of  all  possible  beliefs, 
that  this  love  will  continue  forever  with  those  in  whom 
it  has  once  made  its  abode.  It  will  continue ;  and  in 
heaven,  if  not  on  earth,  the  object  for  which  it  seeks 
shall  be  revealed  to  it.  Every  one  shall  find  that  other 
one  to  whom  he  or  she  belongs.  How  great  is  the  in- 
centive which  is  thus  given  to  lead  a  life  of  purity  and 
chastity,  and  to  shun,  as  the  very  progeny  of  Satan,  all 
feelings  and  thoughts  which  tt-nd  in  any  manner  or  de- 
gree to  turn  the  mind  from  its  loftiest  ideal  of  holy  mar- 
riage !  Husbands  and  wives  are  supplied  with  a  never- 
failing  motive  to  be  faithful  to  the  vows  they  have  ex- 
changed. Those  whom  circumstances  compel  to  remain 
single,  are  led  to  see  that  not  in  vain  are  they  endowed 
with  all  the  instincts,  faculties,  and  capabilities  which 
belong  to  them  as  men  or  women.  No  part  of  their 
spiritual  nature  will  be  wasted,  if  they  but  follow  where 
Providence  leads.  To  be  outwardly  married  in  this 
world  is  a  matter  of  small  moment  as  compared  with 
coming  into  a  truly  conjugial  state  of  heart  and  life. 
For  the  end  is  not  yet.  The  present  life  is  but  the  be- 
ginning of  existence.  The  time  will  soon  come  when 
every  good  love  which  has  been  cherished  here  below, 


HEAVENLY  MARRIAGE.  65 

shall  spring  up  like  seed  planted  in  the  garden  of  the 
Lord.  The  dews  of  heaven  shall  water  it.  The  sun 
of  heaven  shall  shine  upon  it.  And  no  sweet  influence 
shall  be  wanting  which  can  help  bring  it  to  its  full  and 
perfect  fruition. 


V. 
A  LIFE  OF  USEFULNESS. 

"  And  he  shall  be  like  a  tree  planted  by  the  rivers  of  water,  that 
bringeth  forth  his  fruit  in  his  season  ;  his  leaf  also  shall  not  wither  ; 
and  whatsoever  he  doeth  shall  prosper."  —  Ps.  i.  3. 

^TMIIS  is  part  of  a  description  of  a  good  man.  Not 
unfrequently  in  the  Scriptures  man  is  compared  to 
a  tree,  —  to  a  fruitful  and  good  tree  when  his  life  is 
good,  to  a  barren  and  worthless  tree  when  his  life  is 
evil.  John  the  Baptist,  preaching  repentance,  said, 
"  And  now  also  the  axe  is  laid  unto  the  root  of  the  trees  : 
therefore  every  tree  which  bringeth  not  forth  good  fruit, 
is  hewn  down,  and  cast  into  the  fire."  The  Lord  him- 
self, in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  said,  "  Ye  shall  know 
them  by  their  fruits.  Do  men  gather  grapes  of  thorns, 
or  figs  of  thistles  ?  Even  so  every  good  tree  bringeth 
forth  good  fruit ;  but  a  corrupt  tree  bringeth  forth  evil 
fruit.  A  good  tree  cannot  bring  forth  evil  fruit,  neither 
can  a  corrupt  tree  bring  forth  good  fruit.  Every  tree 
that  bringeth  not  forth  good  fruit,  is  hewn  down,  and 
cast  into  the  fire.  Wherefore  by  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them."  Many  other  passages  of  similar  tenor  will 
readily  occur  to  every  one  who  is  familiar  with  the 
Divine  Word. 


A  LIFE  OF  USEFULNESS.  67 

We  may  be  sure  that  the  comparison  here  made  is 
no  mere  superficial  or  fanciful  analogy.  Such  a  sup- 
position is  forbidden  by  the  character  of  the  Scriptures 
themselves.  Furthermore,  the  doctrines  of  the  New 
Church  enable  us  to  see  that  all  things  in  the  created 
universe  bear  a  direct  relation  to  man  ;  not  merely  to 
his  natural  life  and  physical  necessities,  but  to  the 
spiritual  part  of  his  being.  The  world  within  him  is  in 
a  general  way  typified  and  embodied  by  the  world 
around  him  ;  and  each  particular  object  of  nature  has 
its  spiritual  counterpart  in  the  affections  or  thoughts  of 
his  mind.  Material  things  are  the  outbirth  and  expres- 
sion of  spiritual  things.  Thus  regarded,  the  whole  visi- 
ble creation  becomes  instinct  with  spirit,  and  full  of 
meaning.  It  is  evidently  by  virtue  of  their  interior 
significance,  that  natural  objects  produce  an  impression 
on  the  mind.  We  intuitively  classify  them  as  good  or 
evil,  beautiful  or  repulsive.  The  mountains  stand  in 
solitary  grandeur,  saying  nothing,  doing  nothing  but 
rear  their  snow-clad  peaks  to  heaven ;  and  yet  the  heart 
must  be  indeed  dull  and  insensate  which  is  not  deeply 
affected  at  the  sight  of  them.  The  robin  trills  his 
simple  lay,  and  awakens  a  response  in  all  gentle  souls. 
The  streamlet  goes  dashing  and  foaming  down  the  hill- 
side, or  purling  through  the  green  grass  of  the  meadow  ; 
and  we  need  neither  book  nor  teacher  to  tell  us  that  it 
is  "  a  thing  of  beauty,  and  a  joy  forever."  Out  of  the 
thicket,  with  noiseless,  sinuous  motion,  glides  the  ser- 
pent. Why  do  we  start  and  shudder,  even  though  we 


fi8  A   LIFE   OF  USEFULNESS. 

do  not  flee  ?  His  eyes  are  bright,;  his  skin  is  glossy 
and  beautifully  marked  ;  and  in  all  probability  he  is 
quite  harmless.  But  there  is  something  about  him 
which  excites  feelings  of  repugnance.  So  also  of  many 
other  forms  of  life  that  might  be  mentioned.  There  is 
no  difficulty  in  understanding  what  the  Scriptures  mean 
when  they  distinguish  between  clean  and  unclean  beasts 
and  birds.  It  is  not  a  question  of  morals  which  is  involved 
in  the  distinction,  —  not  a  matter  of  good  or  evil  con- 
duct, according  to  the  standard  of  human  responsibility. 
The  visible  form  itself  is  without  flaw,  like  all  the  works 
of  nature.  But  the  life  which  is  within,  and  of  which  it 
is  the  outward  expression  and  embodiment,  is  often  felt 
to  be  something  which  cannot  have  sprung  from  good- 
ness, truth,  and  innocence,  and  which  is  essentially  at 
variance  with  them. 

This  doctrine  of  correspondence,  or  the  relation  of 
natural  things  to  spiritual,  transforms  our  ideas  not  only 
of  the  works  of  God,  but  also  of  his  Word.  The  volume 
of  divine  revelation,  which  from  the  time  of  Abraham 
has  been  the  stay  of  the  Church,  and  the  chief  connect- 
ing link  between  earth  and  heaven,  is  at  this  day 
redeemed  from  misconception,  perversion,  and  con- 
tempt, by  the  knowledge  which  is  now  given  of  the  in- 
ternal or  spiritual  sense  within  that  of  the  letter.  In 
other  words,  the  Scriptures  are  written  by  correspond- 
ences. The  language  throughout  is  symbolical  or  rep- 
resentative. Where  natural  things,  such  as  the  jour- 
neyings  of  the  Israelites  or  their  subsequent  history, 


A  LIFE   OF   USEFULNESS.  69 

form  the  outward  and  ostensible  subject  of  discourse,  the 
affairs  of  spiritual  and  everlasting  life  are  interiorly 
treated  of.  Thus  there  is  no  part  of  Scripture  which  is 
useless,  —  no  part  which  was  given  to  subserve  a  merely 
temporary  purpose.  But  it  is  all  divine ;  divine  not 
only  in  the  fact  that  it  was  revealed  by  the  Lord  God 
himself,  but  in  the  far  more  important  fact  that  it  par- 
takes of  his  nature  and  attributes.  Everywhere  it  tells 
us  of  one  Heavenly  Father,  of  his  coming  into  the  world, 
of  the  work  which  He  did  on  our  behalf  in  overcoming 
the  evils  of  his  assumed  humanity,  of  the  way  to  follow 
Him  in  the  regeneration,  and  to  be  truly  happy  here  and 
hereafter.  It  tells  us  of  the  infinite  love  which  He  has 
ever  had  for  men,  and  of  the  infinite  wisdom  wherewith 
lie  has  dealt  with  them.  It  tells  of  the  successive 
churches  which  He  has  established  on  earth,  and  of  the 
ways  in  which  He  has  provided  for  the  spiritual  welfare 
and  progress  of  mankind. 

In  accordance  with  these  principles,  therefore,  we  say 
that  the  comparison  of  man  to  a  tree  is  no  empty  simile  ; 
and  the  same  is  to  be  said  of  all  the  particulars  of  the 
comparison.  In  every  point  that  is  mentioned,  the 
spiritual  state  of  a  good  man  is  represented  by  the  tree 
that  bringeth  forth  his  fruit  in  his  season. 

The  first  thing  to  be  noticed  is  that  the  tree  cannot 
come  to  perfection  by  its  own  unaided  strength.  Help 
must  reach  it  through  the  soil  in  which  it  stands.  If  it 
were  set  out  in  the  midst  of  the  desert,  it  would  not 
grow.  It  would  wither  and  perish.  It  cannot  •  live 


70  A  LIFE   OF  USEFULNESS. 

without  moisture.  The  condition  most  favorable  to  its 
existence  is  that  it  should  be  planted  by  the  rivers  of 
water. 

Thus  situated,  it  is  never  deprived  of  the  sap  which 
is  its  life's  blood.  Though  the  clouds  withhold  their 
usual  supply  of  rain,  the  perennial  streams  go  rolling 
by ;  and  where  they  are,  there  can  be  neither  drought 
nor  thirst.  Fed  from  the  distant  mountain- tops,  they 
descend  to  the  lowest  parts  of  the  earth,  bringing,  as  it 
were,  the  blessing  of  Heaven  with  them.  All  their 
banks  smile  with  verdure ;  and  no  tree  planted  by  their 
side  sends  forth  its  roots  to  them  in  vain. 

It  need  not  surely  take  a  long  time  to  discover  what 
the  rivers  represent  in  human  experience.  The  ability 
to  be  regenerated,  or  prepared  for  heaven,  is  not  in 
man  himself.  Though  from  within  there  is  a  perpetual 
influx  of  life  into  his  heart  and  mind,  which  seems  like 
his  own,  because  he  has  no  consciousness  of  its  source, 
he  still  needs  help  from  without.  This  help  is  that 
which  comes  from  revealed  truth.  If  we  were  born 
into  the  perfect  order  of  our  being,  we  should  have  an 
intuitive  knowledge  of  everything  relating  to  our  life, 
both  natural  and  spiritual.  We  should  be  as  all  other 
creatures  are  in  this  respect.  As  the  bird  builds  its 
nest,  and  the  bee  its  cell,  having  no  teacher,  and  need- 
ing none,  so  should  we  instinctively,  and  without  instruc- 
tion, do  all  the  work  required  of  us.  But,  as  every  one 
knows,  we  do  no  such  thing.  Whatever  may  have  been 
the  case  in  the  infancy  of  the  world,  the  fact  regarding 


A  LIFE   OF  USEFULNESS.  71 

our  present  condition  is,  that  we  are  born  wholly  igno- 
rant of  the  life  here,  and  the  life  hereafter,  and  of  what 
is  needed  for  their  proper  direction  and  development. 
Little  by  little  the  infant  must  learn  to  use  his  hands 
and  feet,  and  all  his  bodily  faculties.  He  must  be 
taught  by  experience  or  some  gentler  teacher  respecting 
the  qualities  of  the  objects  around  him.  He  cannot  of 
himself  select  suitable  food,  or  distinguish  between  that 
which  will  sustain  life  and  that  which  will  destroy  it. 
In  these,  and  all  other  matters  relating  to  his  earthly 
existence,  he  must  receive  instruction  and  guidance. 
Precisely  so  it  is  with  regard  to  his  spiritual  life.  He 
does  not  know  by  nature  or  instinct  what  good  and  evil 
are,  and  how  he  must  live  in  order  to  be  most  happy. 
God  is  not  revealed  to  him  in  the  depths  of  his  inner 
consciousness.  But  some  outward  means  must  be  pro- 
vided, in  order  that  his  understanding  of  these  and  all 
kindred  subjects  should  be  opened.  He  must  some- 
where find  a  teacher.  If  spiritual  knowledge  were  in- 
tuitive, then  should  the  children  of  cannibals  refuse  to 
eat  human  flesh.  Then  should  the  Mohammedan  give 
birth  to  Christians,  and  the  Jew  to  those  who  condemn 
the  love  of  money.  But  we  behold  no  such  phenomena 
as  the«e.  Unless  light  breaks  in  from  some  source  out- 
side of  their  own  thoughts,  —  that  is  to  say,  unless  in- 
struction can  be  imparted  by  some  one  competent  to 
communicate  it,  —  the  children  will  go  on  in  the  foot- 
steps of  the  fathers,  never  dreaming  that  they  have  any 
occasion  for  improvement. 


72  A   LIFE   OF  USEFULNESS. 

In  other  words,  man  stands  in  need  of  a  revelation 
of  truth.  Without  it,  he  must  forever  abide  in  dark- 
ness. And  since  there  is  but  One  who  has  truth  in 
Himself,  and  from  whom  all  truth  comes,  the  Lord 
alone  must  directly  or  indirectly  impart  it.  The  need 
which  men  have  of  truth  corresponds  to  that  which 
trees  have  of  water ;  and  the  rivers  of  water,  by  which 
the  flourishing  and  fruit-bearing  tree  is  planted,  can 
mean  nothing  else  than  divine  truth  revealed  by  the 
Lord  God  from  heaven.  That  such  is  its  meaning,  no 
attentive  and  devout  reader  of  the  Scriptures  will  be 
disposed  to  question.  What  but  the  truth  can  be  de- 
noted when  the  Lord  says  by  the  prophet,  "  Ho,  every 
one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters,"  or  when  with 
his  own  divine-human  lips  He  declares,  "  Whosoever 
drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  never 
thirst ;  but  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in 
him  a  well  of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting 
life  ?  "  "  The  water  of  life,"  which  all  are  exhorted 
to  drink  freely,  "  the  river  of  water  of  life,  proceed- 
ing out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb,"  can 
surely  mean  nothing  else  than  the  abundant  truth 
which  the  Lord  gives  to  men  to  strengthen  and  support 
them  on  the  heavenly  journey. 

It  is  needless  to  add  that  the  Word  is  the  grand  re- 
pository of  these  truths.  Nay,  even,  according  to  what 
was  said  in  an  earlier  part  of  this  discourse,  the  Word 
is  divine  truth  itself.  It  is  revealed  as  a  means  of  en- 
abling all  who  come  under  its  influence,  to  shun  evil 


A  LIFE  OF  USEFULNESS.  73 

and  do  good,  and  thus  to  be  made  truly  happy.  There 
is  no  occasion  to  argue  the  point  of  its  divinity.  To 
those  who  receive  it  with  the  humble  and  contrite  spirit 
which  it  inculcates,  it  speaks  for  itself.  He  who  has 
but  a  child's  powers  of  understanding,  can  yet  compre- 
hend many  of  its  lessons ;  and  if  he  observes  its  sim- 
plest precepts  with  the  feeling  that  they  are  the  com- 
mandments of  God,  and  with  the  purpose  of  yielding 
submission  to  them,  they  do  indeed  become  in  him,  ac- 
cording to  a  text  already  quoted,  "  a  well  of  water, 
springing  up  into  everlasting  life." 

As  the  tree  sends  out  its  roots  in  search  of  moisture, 
in  order  that  it  may  accomplish  the  end  of  its  creation, 
and  bring  forth  fruit,  so  the  regenerating  man  seeks 
earnestly  for  the  truth  which  shall  enable  him  to 
become  an  angel.  This,  as  was  previously  shown,  is 
not  in  himself.  He  must  look  to  other  sources  for 
it.  Happy  are  they  who  are  planted  by  the  rivers  of 
water ;  that  is,  who  have  direct  access  to  the  Word  of 
the  Lord.  If  they  do  not  possess  this  advantage,  they 
may  not  indeed  perish ;  they  may  not  be  wholly  fruit- 
less, even  in  this  world.  It  is  impossible  to  believe 
that  He  who  is  infinite  in  love  and  goodness,  should  suf- 
fer any  one  to  receive  essential  and  lasting  injury, 
simply  on  account  of  ignorance  of  the  truth.  But 
few,  if  any,  are  altogether  ignorant.  Few,  if  any,  are 
utterly  without  ideas  of  right  and  wrong,  and  without 
a  sense  of  accountability  to  a  higher  power.  There  are 
not  many  spots  on  the  earth's  surface  which  will  not 


74  A  LIFE  OF  USEFULNESS. 

support  some  kind  of  vegetation.  Out  of  the  driest 
and  most  sterile  soil  some  stunted  trees  or  shrubs  will 
yet  draw  nutriment  enough  to  sustain  their  own  life  and 
perpetuate  their  species.  But  for  all  this,  the  best 
place  is  by  the  rivers  of  water.  The  most  perfect 
specimens  of  vegetable  growth  are  to  be  found  there. 
And  though  man  is  never  saved  by  truth  or  faith  alone, 
yet  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  more  of  truth  one 
has,  who  is  willing  to  live  according  to  it,  the  better  it 
must  be  for  him,  —  the  higher  must  be  his  state  of 
spiritual  development.  To  such  a  one  the  saying  is 
applicable :  "  For  unto  whomsoever  much  is  given,  of 
him  shall  be  much  required ;  and  to  whom  men  have 
committed  much,  of  him  they  will  ask  the  more." 

The  tree  to  which  the  good  man  is  likened,  brings 
forth  its  fruit  in  its  season.  Not  in  vain  is  it  planted 
by  the  rivers  of  water.  It  drinks  of  them,  as  they 
flow  by;  it  draws  some  infinitesimal  portion  of  them 
into  its  own  substance,  and  applies  them  to  its  own 
life  ;  and  the  result  is  that  its  mission  is  accomplished, 
its  branches  are  laden  with  fruit.  Does  any  one  ask 
what  the  fruit  of  a  human  life  is  ?  Can  there  be  any 
doubt  on  this  point?  When  a  man  imbibes  the  truth, 
and  puts  himself  under  its  influence,  the  effects  are  seen 
in  good  affections,  wise  thoughts,  and  kind  actions. 
Love  to  the  Lord  and  his  fellow-men  becomes  the  rul- 
ing motive  of  his  being.  And  those  whom  he  loves 
he  desires  to  benefit.  Like  Him  whose  finite  image 
and  likeness  he  is,  he  finds  his  greatest  happiness  in 


A  LIFE  OF  USEFULNESS.  75 

making  others  happy.  He  brings  forth  fruit  for  them, 
rather  than  for  himself.  Herein  also  he  resembles  the 
tree  with  which  he  is  compared.  His  fruits  are  good 
deeds,  full  of  the  spirit  of  love  and  kindness. 

"  His  leaf  also  shall  not  wither ;  and  whatsoever  he 
doeth  shall  prosper."  The  leaves  are  the  lungs  of  a 
tree.  By  means  of  them  it  breathes,  or  appropriates  to 
itself  what  it  needs  in  the  atmosphere.  They  are  essen- 
tial to  the  life  of  every  plant.  If  they  wither  or  fall 
off,  the  tree  either  dies  or  continues  in  a  state  of  sus- 
pended animation,  until  fresh  leaves  appear.  The  lungs 
of  man  correspond  to  his  understanding,  as  his  heart 
corresponds  to  his  will.  The  understanding  has  relation 
to  truth,  as  the  will  has  to  goodness.  The  operations 
of  the  understanding  are  called  thinking,  as  those  of  the 
will  are  termed  loving.  Like  the  lungs  of  men  or  beasts, 
the  leaves  of  trees  represent  the  understanding  or  think- 
ing faculty  of  the  mind.  Each  particular  leaf  denotes 
some  particular  thought,  or  the  truth  of  which  it  is  the 
expression.  First  in  the  process  of  spiritual  growth, 
some  knowledge  of  truth  is  received  into  the  memory 
from  the  river  of  water  of  life.  Soon  the  leaves  begin 
to  appear ;  that  is  to  say,  the  understanding,  or  rational 
faculty  is  developed ;  the  general  knowledge  of  truth, 
acted  upon  by  divine  and  heavenly  influences,  is  con- 
verted into  living  principles,  which  produce  a  state  of 
genuine  intelligence.  Last  of  all,  the  fruit  is  brought  to 
its  perfection ;  goodness  of  heart  and  life  comes  as  the 
crowning  glory  of  all  preceding  operations,  —  as  the 


76  A   LIFE   OF  USEFULNESS. 

very  end  to  which  from  the  beginning  they  conspired. 
And  the  state  of  a  man  to  whom  this  description  applies, 
is  one  of  unqualified  spiritual  prosperity.  He  has  no 
will  but  to  do  the  Lord's  will.  Therefore  whatsoever 
he  doeth  must  prosper. 

Of  all  the  points  of  comparison  suggested  between 
man  and  a  tree,  that  which  relates  to  the  bringing  forth 
fruit  seems  most  important,  and  worthy  of  the  most  ex- 
tended consideration.  It  is  a  prominent  doctrine  of  the 
New  Church,  that  the  end  and  object  of  human  exist- 
ence is  the  performance  of  uses.  Every  one  is  created, 
in  order  that  he  may  fill  a  place  in  the  grand  aggregate 
of  humanity,  where  he  may  be  of  the  greatest  service  to 
all  the  rest.  Nothing  can  prevent  the  fulfilment  of  this 
purpose  but  his  own  refusal  to  cooperate  in  it.  Eternal 
happiness  itself — the  happiness  of  heaven — consists 
in  the  active  exercise  of  love  to  the  Lord  and  love  to 
the  neighbor  ;  that  is,  in  doing  good.  This  is  the  very 
joy  of  the  angels ;  and  even  our  imperfect  experience 
may  prove  to  us  that  there  is  no  other  joy  to  be  com- 
pared with  it. 

No  one  can  lead  an  orderly  and  happy  life,  unless  he 
is  engaged  in  the  performance  of  regular  duties  which 
tend  to  the  benefit  of  others.  These  duties  may  be 
modest  and  humble.  They  may  attract  no  more  atten- 
tion than  the  clover-bloom  feeding  the  bee  with  honey 
amid  the  undisturbed  solitude  of  the  dawn.  Indeed,  if 
they  are  performed  with  any  special  desire  of  attracting 
attention,  the  charm  of  them  is  destroyed,  the  delight  in 


A  LIFE  OF  USEFULNESS.  77 

them  is  lessened,  their  celestial  beauty  is  lost.  But 
definite  duties,  done  as  far  as  possible  in  a  spirit  of 
usefulness,  for  the  sake  of  the  good  to  be  accomplished 
by  them,  and  not  for  the  sake  of  reward,  are  essential 
to  true  happiness.  They  are  absolutely  necessary  for 
rounding  and  completing  the  life  of  a  human  soul. 

No  man,  or  woman  either,  should  rest  content  without 
doing  something  directly  or  indirectly  for  the  good  of  his 
fellows.  To  be  idle  and  useless  is  against  the  very  order 
of  Providence,  and  one  of  the  most  serious  impediments 
to  spiritual  progress.  Parents  who  do  not  impress  on 
their  children's  minds  the  surpassing  excellence  of  a  use- 
ful life,  however  unpretending,  and  the  utter  worthless- 
ness  of  a  life  devoted  to  ease  and  pleasure,  commit  a 
grievous  error,  and  may  inflict  a  lasting  injury.  The 
public  opinion  which  makes  it  polite  or  fashionable  for 
any  class  of  the  community  to  hang  their  hands  in  idle- 
ness, is  worthy  of  severest  condemnation  and  rebuke. 

So  far  as  any  discontent  respecting  the  work  and 
position  of  women  arises  from  the  fact  that  legitimate 
fields  of  activity  are  not  open  to  them,  and  they  are 
prevented  from  conforming  to  the  divine  law  of  use,  it 
is  founded  in  justice  —  it  furnishes  a  grievance  which 
all  should  unite  to  remedy.  Nothing  can  be  more  in- 
jurious to  young  women,  or  indeed  to  any  one,  than  to 
have  no  object  outside  of  their  own  immediate  whims 
or  fancies,  to  which  their  unselfish  energies  can  be  de- 
voted. Surely  in  a  community  like  ours,  where  suffer- 
ing so  much  abounds,  and  the  milk  of  human  kindness 


78  A  LIFE  OF  USEFULNESS. 

is  so  rare,  there  must  be  a  thousand  methods  consistent 
with  their  womanly  nature,  in  which  they  can  do  a  work 
in  the  world,  and  leave  it  better  than  they  found  it 
Only  let  them  be  inspired  with  the  desire  to  do  good 
to  others  in  their  own  best  way,  and  for  the  sake  of 
helping  them,  instead  of  being  seen  by  them,  and  tin-re 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  want  of  occupation  which  they 
feel,  can  be  supplied,  and  the  happiest  results  \\ill 
follow. 

The  one  thing  which  human  beings  should  not  be 
content  to  do,  is  to  do  nothing.  Those  who  are  sur- 
rounded by  pleasant  outward  circumstances  have  some 
of  the  accessories  of  happiness  ;  but  those  who  are  liv- 
ing and  enjoying  a  life  of  true  usefulness,  have  happi- 
ness itself.  Since  man  is  like  a  tree,  it  is  impossible  for 
his  nature  to  be  fully  developed,  or  his  life  to  be  any- 
thing but  incomplete  and  imperfect,  until  he  has  a 
chance,  and  avails  himself  of  it,  to  bring  forth  his  fruit 
hi  his  season. 


LIST  OP  BOOKS 

PUBLISHED    BY 

NICHOLS  AND  NOYES, 

117  Washington  Street, 


HENRY  P.  NICHOLS. 
HKNBY  D.  NOYM. 


Keligion  and  Life.    By  JAMES  REED.    1  vol.  16mo,  pp.  85. 
Price  75  cents. 

Contents. 

Introduction.  The  Way  of  Life. 

How  to  think  of  God.  The  Life  Hereafter. 

How  to  think  of  the  Scriptures. 

Our  Eternal   Homes.     By  A  BIBLE  STUDENT.    1  vol. 
18mo.     Price  $1.25. 

Contents. 


I.  What  is  Heaven. 
II.  Guardian  Angels. 
III.  Heavenly  Scenery. 


V.  Do  the  Departed  forget  us. 
VI.  Man's  Book  of  Life. 
VII.  Infants  in  Heaven. 


IV.  Death  the  Gate  of  Life. 

"  This  is  a  charmingly  written  book,  on  a  very  important  sub- 
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most  important  of  all  subjects,  verified  constantly  by  appeals  to 
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tone  devoutly  reverential,  we  confidently  recommend  this  hand- 
some little  volume." — English  Paper. 

Life :  its  Nature,  Varieties,  and  Phenomena.  By 

LEO  H.  GRINDON,  Lecturer  on  Botany  at  the  Royal  School  of 
Medicine,  Manchester.     1  vol.     8vo.     Price  $2.25. 

"  To  those  who  care  for  the  illustration  which  physical  science 
casts  upon  the  science  of  mind,  and  upon  the  truths  of  revela- 
tion, there  will  probably  be  much  that  is  both  novel  and  inviting. 
....  Science  without  religion  is  empty  and  unvital.  True 


wisdom,  finding  the  whole  world  expressive  of  God,  calls  upon  us 
to  walk  at  all  times  and  in  all  places  in  the  worship  and  rever 
ent  contemplation  of  Him."  —  Preface. 

Sex  in  Nature.  An  essay  proposing  to  show  that  sex  and 
the  marriage  union  are  universal  principles  in  physics,  physiol- 
ogy, and  psychology.  By  the  same  author.  1  vol.  12mo. 
Price  $1.25. 

Phenomena  Of  Plant  Life.  By  the  same  author.  Price 
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The  Little  Things  of  Nature,  considered  especially  in 
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A     REMARKABLE     CCOK. 


ECCE    CCELUM; 

OK, 

PARISH     ASTRONOMY. 

BY  REV.  E.  F.  BURR,  D.D. 

I  vol.  lOmo,  198  pp.    Price,  $1.25.    New  Edition.    Sent  prepaid  by  mail 
on  receipt  of  price. 


NICHOLS    AND    NOYES, 

117    WASHINGTON    STREET,    BOSTON. 


The  Publishers  request  special  attention  to  the  following  un- 
solicited testimonials,  which  have  been  received  from  sources 
worthy  of  regard. 

From  Rev.  W.  A.  Stearns,  D  D  ,  LL.D  ,  President  of  Amherst  College. 
"  I  have  read  it  with  great  profit  and  admiration.  It  is  a  grand 
production,  — very  clear  and  satisfactory,  scientifically  considered  ; 
very  exalted  and  exalting  in  spirit  and  manner ;  and  exhibiting  a 
wealth  of  appropriate  emotion  and  expression  which  surprises  me. 
May  the  Hie  and  health  of  the  author  be  spared  to  show  still 
further  that  God  is  and  that  His  works  are  great,  sought  out  of 
them  that  have  pleasure  therein." 


From  Rev.  Horace  Bushntll,  D.D. 

"  I  have  not  been  so  much  fascinated  by  any  book  for  a  long 
time,  —never  by  a  book  on  that  particular  subject.  It  is  popu- 
larised in  the  form,  yet  not  evaporated  in  the  substance,  —  it 
tingles  with  life  all  through,  —  and  the  wonder  is,  that,  casting  off 
so  much  of  the  paraphernalia  of  science,  and  descending,  for  the 
most  part,  to  common  Language,  it  brings  out,  not  so  much,  but  so 
iiuch  tnere  of  the  meaning.  I  have  gotten  a  better  idea  of  Astron- 


omy,  as  a  whole,  from  it  than  I  ever  got  before  from  all  jthet 
sources,  —  more  than  from  Enfield's  great  book,  which  I  once  care- 
fully worked  out,  eclipses  and  all. 

"  I  trace  the  progress  made,  and  the  methods  of  the  same,  and 
seize  on  the  exact  status  of  things  at  the  point  now  reached." 

From  the  Biblintheca  Sacra. 

"This  is  a  remarkable  book,  —  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
which  has  proceeded  from  the  American  press  for  a  long  time.  It 
lifts  the  reader  fairly  into  the  heavens  and  unveils  their  glories. 
The  presentation  is  very  full  though  concentrated,  very  clear  and 
animating,  —  with  a  command  of  language  and  a  glow  of  eloquence 
which  is  quite  extraordinary.  The  last  lecture  is  hardly  less  than 
a  Te  Deuin.  The  only  adverse  criticism  which,  on  reading  the 
preparatory  lecture,  we  were  inclined  to  make,  was,  that  the  almost 
impassioned  eloquence  with  which  it  opened  would  have  be?n 
more  impressive  further  on,  and  after  the  imagination  'had  been 
excited  by  the  facts.  But,  after  finishing  the  last  Lecture,  we 
could  not  wonder  that  a  mind  so  full  of  the  great  facts,  and  of  the 
emotion  which  they  necessarily  kindle,  should,  on  seeing  his  own 
parish  charge  assembled  to  listen,  break  forth  in  strains  which,  none 
but  a  mind  fully  roused  by  his  theme  and  his  audience  would 
have  been  able  to  utter.  No  person  can  read  through  this  volume 
without  mental  exaltation,  and  a  conviction  of  the  peculiar  ability 
of  the  author." 

From  the  Xtw  Enylandtr. 

"It  presents  an  admirable  resume' of  the  sublime  teachings  of 
Astronomy,  as  related  to  natural  religion,  —  a  series  of  brilliant 
pen-photographs  of  the  Wonders  of  the  Heavens,  .as  part  of  God's 
glorious  handiwork.  The  first  five  lectures  pass  the  science  in 
rapid  review  ;  the  last  treats  of  the  Author  of  Nature,  as  relate'!  to 
its  leading  features.  There  is  not  a  dry  page  in  the  volume,  but 
much  originality  and  vigor  of  style,  and  often  the  highes'  elo- 
quence. It  is,  withal,  evidently  by  an  author  at  home  in  his  sub- 
ject, not  "  crammed  "  for  the  task.  It  affords  a  fine  example  of 
what  an  intelligent  pastor  can  do,  outside  of  his  pulpit,  towards 
training  an  intelligent  people,  and  by  imparting  to  tliem  Nature's 


teachings,  leading  "through  Nature  up  to  Nature's  God,"  —  the 
God  of  Revelation  as  well.  To  such  a  book  the  author  need  not 
hesitate  to  affix  his  name." 

Frcm  Rev.  A.  P.  Peabody,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Preacher  to  Harvard  University, 
and  Plummer  Professor  of  Christian  Morals. 

"  Permit  me  to  thank  you  for  a  work  in  which  you  have  effected 
a  rare  union  of  scientific  accuracy,  eloquent  diction,  and  rich  de- 
votional sentiment.  It  is  attractive,  instructive,  and  edifying.  It 
appears  at  a  time  when  science  needs,  as  never  before,  to  be 
redeemei  and  sanctified  by  faith  in  Him,  in  whom  are  hidden  all 
the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge.  And,  best  of  all,  it  does 
not  make  Religion  cringe  to  Science,  but  maintains  her  in  that 
queenly  status  which  is  the  only  position  she  can  hold.  The  book 
must  do  great  good,  and  I  heartily  congratulate  you  as  its  author." 

From  Rev.  S.  II.  Hall,  D.D. 

"  Ecce  Coelum  is  much  more  than  a  book-success.  It  will  be 
honored  as  a  most  timely  and  admirable  treatise  to  put  into  the 
hand  of  thoughtful  young  people,  to  '  turn  off  their  minds  from 
vanity,'  and  lead  them  to  God." 

From  the  NeiD-  York  Evangelist. 

"  This  unpretending,  though  elegant  little  volume,  gives  a  most 
admirable  popular  summary  of  the  results  of  Astronomical  Sci- 
ence. The  author  has  evidently  mastered  his  subject,  and  he  has 
presented  it  in  a  most  striking  manner,  adapted  to  the  comprehen- 
sion of  the  common  reader,  and  enriched  with  pertinent  illus- 
trations. The  book  is  perhaps  the  most  fascinating  treatise  on  the 
science  which  has  been  published  of  late  years,  ranking  indeed 
in  many  respects  with  that  of  the  late  lamented  and  eloquent 
Mitchell.  One  of  its  excellencies  is  that  it  does  not  hide  God 
'behind  his  own  creation.'" 

From  the  Religious  Herald. 

"  A  New  Book,  and  one  that  is  a  book,  worth  its  weight  in 
gold  or  diamonds,  for  it  is  full  of  gold  And  precious  gems,  —  dia- 
monds of  law  and  fact,  —  truths  beaming  with  celestial  light.  I 


speak  of  'Ecce  Coclum,'  from  the  pen  of  Rev.  ENOCH  K  BURR, 
D.D.,  of  Lyme,  Conn.,  published  by  Nichols  &  Noyes,  Boston,  a 
duodecimo  of  198  pages.  Mr.  Burr  modestly  signs  himself 'A 
Connecticut  Pastor,'  but  some  college  has  rent  the  vail  and  written 
out  his  full  name,  and  added  to  it  a  D.D.  So  much  the  better  for 
Connecticut  and  for  the  world.  Such  light  as  the  book  contains 
ought  not  to  be  under  a  bushel. 

'*  These  six  Parish  Lectures  are  a  masterly,  vivid,  easy,  sub- 
lime presentation  of  the  enchanting  facts  of  Astronomy.  They 
are  adapted  to  all  classes,  —  the  learned  and  the  unlearned.  The 
astounding  glories  of  the  skies  are  tempered  to  our  humble  eyes. 

"  Let  all  read  the  book,  old  and  young.  Let  it  be  found  in 
every  school,  in  every  library,  and  .in  every  home  where  wisdom 
is  invoked.  Read  it,  and  you  will  exclaim,  what  glorious  light  it 
sheds  from  the  throne  of  God  upon  the  lonely  pathway  of  man !  " 

From  C.  Jl.  Bnlsbaugh,  of  Pennsylvania. 

"It  is  certainly  a  wonderful  little  book.  How  the  world 
shrinks  into  an  atom  as  we  follow  the  lofty  soarings  of  the  '  Con- 
necticut Pastor.'  I  never  knew  rightly  what  Dr.  Young  means 
by  saying,  '  an  undevout  Astronomer  is  mad  ; '  but  I  now  see  and 
feel  the  power  and  beauty  of  the  expression.  Such  a  book  cannot 
be  read  without  laying  upon  us  the  responsibility  of  a  new  charge 
from  heaven.  After  contemplating  such  grandeur,  we  instinctively 
exclaim,  '  What  is  man  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him  ?  '  " 

From  Hon.  S.  L.  Selden,  Late  Chief  Justice  of  New  York. 
"  A  beautiful  book.  I  admire  it  for  the  elegance  of  its  style,  as 
well  as  for  the  lucid  and  able  manner  in  which  it  presents  the 
noblest  of  the  sciences.  It  will  prove,  I  think,  very  valuable,  not 
merely  for  the  knowledge  it  communicates,  but  as  suggestive  of  a 
line  of  noble  and  elevated  thought.  And  I  am  much  pleased  to  see 
from  the  numerous  notices  which  have  come  under  my  observa- 
tion that  my  estimate  is  confirmed  by  many  persons  of  the  first 
capacity  for  judging.  To  have  written  a  work  which  receives 
and  deserves  such  very  high  praise  from  scholars  and  men  of 
ecience  cannot  but  be  a  source  of  great  gratification  to  the 
author." 


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